Thane: The Shadow Mages
by lamiea
Summary: Keera is an apprentice Elder Guard in the land of Thane. She is called upon to help save her Kingdom but is her own magic strong enough for the challenges that lie ahead. This story was written with a friend  silkrose who looks at Gyns pov.R
1. Chapter 1

The chill of the nights air made me shiver, I wrapped my cloak tighter around my body in an attempt to block out some of the cold. My boots trudged on the sodden ground as a dragged my fatigued legs onwards towards my chambers. Training tonight had been extra tough and my body ached but as a member of the Elders Guard it was important for me to keep my skills honed to perfection. I was a member of the Earthen Tribe which resided in the south east quadrant of Thane. Thane was ruled by the four Elder Mages, the most powerful Mage from each of the four tribes of Thane. Each of the tribes had their own band of unique magic augmented by a precious Gem relating to the tribe. My tribe specialised in nature and the raw power of the earth itself, Earthen Mages carry an emerald stone with them and mine was set into a simple amulet which I wore around my neck.

Not all citizens of Thane were born mages and the most promising mages were sent to the Elder Tower to train as an Elders Guard. It was the Guards job to protect the Elders and the land of Thane. I was just an apprentice Guard and had not yet finished my training and Node the weapons master had certainly put me through my paces tonight. Like most of my tribe's people I had chosen to specialise in the use of a longbow, my father had crafted mine from a Yew tree and given it to me as a gift when I left for my guard training. I missed home, my mother's cooking, the wind blowing through the trees lulling me to sleep at night and the freedom of the forest. Here at the elders Tower I felt trapped, confined behind four walls.

Reaching my chambers I paused, the door was ajar someone had been or was in my room. I unsheathed my dagger and quietly pushed open the door enough to slide my body through the gap. Darkness pressed upon me, I stopped and listened. Nothing. I edged further into the room, a gust or air stirred around me, I smirked. Drawing power from my amulet I summoned tree roots buried in the earth beneath my chamber, I heard them break through the stone floor and I ordered them in the direction of the air. A muffled 'oof' made me laugh out loud. A flame burst into life behind me illuminating the room. I turned and smiled at one of my best friends Gyn. She held a small flame cupped in the palm of her hands, the glow made her red hair appear to be alive moving with the heat from the blaze. We both turned to examine my second best friend and had to suppress our mirth. Ensnared in tree roots as thick as ropes he lay bundled on the floor glaring at me. I freed him of his bindings and laughed again as he scrambled to his feet.

"One of these days your practical jokes are going to get you into serious trouble Jet" I informed him taking a seat on one of the overstuffed arm chairs. He sprawled himself across the sofa a cocky grin etched onto his face, his grey eyes sparked with mischievousness.

"Ah! But I had you going for a minute. Admit it." he laughed running a hand through his shaggy blond hair, typical of the Airwalker Tribe. I scowled at him refusing to admit that I may have been a little scared.

"It would have worked better had you not used your magic, it gave you away" Gyn explained as she moved around the room igniting the lanterns with the tip of her index finger. She was a member of the Inferno Tribe this was made obvious by her fiery red hair and the large ruby power gem on her middle finger.

"So did you come for a reason other than to torment me?" I asked them. Gyn now joined us sitting down by the hearth and running her fingers through the flames.

"Gyn has some juicy gossip" Jet stated the devilish glint never leaving his eyes.

"Oh!" I prompted turning to Gyn. Her expression turned sombre and she scowled at Jet.

"I wouldn't call it juicy more along the lines of worrying." She remarked. I frowned and Jet rolled his eyes unable to take anything seriously.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well during my diplomacy lesson this afternoon with Sir Vector he was telling us the usual protocol when travelling with a delegation when Sir Marthol interrupted the lesson. I couldn't hear the whole conversation but I understood enough to work out that apparently Shadow Mages have been sighted in Thane." She recounted as a slight shiver ran down her spine.

"But Shadow Mages never leave Karox, they haven't since the great invasion hundreds of years ago when they were defeated and banished back to Karox." I stated. Worry gripped my heart, I had never had dealings with shadow mages but I had heard some stories about them and their magic.

"I know but I'm just telling you what I heard and we had better hope that I had heard wrong."

I bid my friends good night they needed to be back in their chambers before lock down. I felt uneasy Gyn's news lingered on my mind. I tried pushing it away as I climbed into bed but the information kept seeping back into my thoughts. Shadow Mages in Thane was not good news, if the Elders are aware of this I am sure they have a course of action planned. At least I hoped they did.


	2. Chapter 2

I woke early the following morning, stretching and yawning I clambered out of bed rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Still groggy I made my way into the small bathroom that each of the apprentice chambers have along with a bedroom and a living quarters. All were plain and simple if you wanted a homely feel you had to adorn the room yourself; I had placed small potted plants in each of the rooms. The cold from the stone floor seeped through my bare feet as I quickly washed and made my way to the small mirror. I ran a comb through my long chestnut hair; I could have used a blast of air from Jet now to dry it faster. Examining my bright green eyes I prodded the morning bags under them sighing deeply, luckily living in the forest gave you useful knowledge about the properties of various plants. I smeared an ointment on the purple blotches under my eyes; they should be gone in half an hour. Pulling my hair back into a messy knot on the back of my head and securing it with a vine I smiled at my reflection and left the small room, I stopped when I entered the living quarters. There was a large hole in my floor with bits of broken stone littering the room by bathroom door, unfortunate my magic may have caused the mess but could not repair it I would have to seek out the maintenance workers. Sighing I collected my boots and pulled them on, deciding I would go for an early breakfast, I left my quarters.

The weather was still miserable but it always was at this time of year when the winds swept the rain clouds over the Dagan Sea towards Thane where the heavens opened. Pulling my hood up I marched on towards the dining hall. Reaching the hall I hastily opened the door and slipped inside as another downpour began. The room was quiet at this time in the morning I scanned the many tables set out in the vast room for a familiar face, a blaze of colour in the far corner had me automatically heading in that direction after detouring slightly to get myself some pancakes. Gyn looked up and smiled evidence of a bad night's sleep was clear on her face and she too supported purple bags under her eyes and her vibrant hair was untamed giving her a slightly feral look.

"Bad night too?" she asked appraising my fading bags and sloppy hairstyle. I nodded.

"Your news had me tossing and turning" I explained giving her a rueful smile. I picked at my breakfast as we sat in silence for a few minutes.

"Why would they come back after their defeat last time I mean ..." Gyn began then trailing off.

"No idea but to be honest I think we should push this news from out mind we don't know how much of it is true and has been amped up by gossips. We should just continue as normal it does not concern us ... yet". Just as the words left my lips a page made his way across the hall right towards us. Gyn shot me a panicked glance I motioned for her to calm after all this may have nothing to do with shadow mages and could just be another assignment for us.

"Miss Keera Earthen and Gyn Inferno?" the page asked formally. We looked at each other.

"That's us" Gyn replied.

"you are to report to conference room 11 in half an hour and are to bring Mr Jet Airwalker with you" he said reading from a small slip of paper which he then handed to me, bowed to us both and left. Gyn and I glanced at each other again perplexed, why were we being summoned to a conference meeting.

"We had better go and wake up sleeping beauty then" I said getting to my feet. Gyn laughed we both knew that no one could sleep like Jet could.

We made our way through the rain towards his quarters. The land surrounding the Elders tower was filled with buildings some were public others were training rooms but most were living quarters for the apprentice guards and Elder guards. Weaving our way through the collection of buildings we made it to Jet's room. I rapped on the door loudly and waited a moment.

"He is not going to answer" Gyn said confirming what I had also thought.

"What a surprise" I replied.

"Allow me" she said conjuring up a blaze in the palm of her hand and holding it over the metal lock careful not to ignite the wooden door she melted the metal so it liquefied and dripped into a pool on the floor. I smirked and raised an eyebrow at her. "Think of it as me extracting revenge on him for you, after all it's because of him that you now have a gaping hole in your living quarters" she said.

Without the metal lock the door swung open effortlessly, we entered his quarters dodging the mess he had left strewn all over the floor we edged our way into his bedroom. I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. He woke with a start sending a blast of air at us in his panic, we were sent sailing across the room and into the wall where we landed in a heap. I groaned detangling myself from Gyn; pain throbbed along my shoulder blades from the impact with the wall.

"Damit Jet who needs enemies when we have a friend like you!" I snarled clambering to my feet and pulling Gyn into a standing position. He looked at us sheepishly having the courtesy to look ashamed.

"To be honest you did break into my room and wake me up I could have been under attack, it's natural for me to react" he replied regaining some of his swagger. We could not argue with that fact so I left the dispute and decided to tell him about the summon, it took a great deal of control.

"Why? What for?" he shouted from the bathroom finally deciding to address the information we had given him. We sat in the living room waiting for him to get ready.

"How are we supposed to know, that's why we have to go, to find out what they have to say" Gyn answered.

"Hurry up at this rate we won't get there, what are you doing? I can get ready faster than this" I snapped, I was still unhappy about being blown across the room. Jet emerged from the bathroom looking no different to when he had climbed out of bed. I shook my head in exasperation.

"Come on or we will be late" I said wrapping my cloak around my body I swiftly left the room. Leaving the others to follow it was amazing how quickly my mood could be soured. I heard Jet complaining about his door handle however and this did make me feel a bit better, a smug smile spreading across my lips as I made my way to conference room 11.


	3. Chapter 3

I marched across the grass, my footsteps squelching in the sodden ground. My anger seemed to fizzle out as I neared the Elder Tower. I had only been inside a couple of times before, slowing my pace I looked up at the large structure looming before me. At first glance you would think that it was constructed from sandstone, it had the same colour and pattern as the soft stone. I knew otherwise, when you placed a hand on the stone it was smooth and cold to the touch more like marble than sandstone, we had been told in one of our history classes that the stone was mined from the Fire Mountains in the Inferno tribes land. The base of the tower was a wide hexagonal shape and stretched up 7 floors, this is where the offices and conference rooms resided along with the quarters of the high Elder Guard members. Above the seventh floor the tower became more slender stretching high into the air where it comes to the Sky Deck. The Sky Deck is where the Elder Mages reside where then can watch over Thane, very few people had been to this area of the tower but I had heard that each Elder Mage had a floor to themselves but how you got up there I had no idea. I looked down the height of the Sky Deck was making me feel queasy. It was unusual for apprentice Guards to be Summoned to a Conference room in the tower and this made me feel uneasy, was something big really happening in Thane or was this merely another bog-standard mission and our mentors were just upping the bar slightly making it feel more official to get us ready for our graduation. Two pairs of feet stopped beside me pulling me from my musings.

"Keera?" Jet said cautiously. I turned and looked at him giving him a feeble smile. "What's up?"

"I was just deciding why we have been asked to go to a conference room, thinking over a few scenarios, but the only way to know is to get ourselves in there right?" I replied, the others nodded.

"I can't remember the last time I was inside the Tower" Gyn muttered I guessed more to herself than to anyone else.

"Shall we?" Jet said motioning with his arm for the ladies to go first. I smiled at him and moved to the large mahogany doors, I commanded them to open pushing the wood with my mind. The doors slowly swung open revealing a grand entrance hall. People milled about moving from room to room, I stepped inside not wanting to look stupid by lingering in the door way. Taking a deep calming breath I focused my mind, if this was an important mission I needed a level head, I needed to show the Elders what I was capable of, this was no time for nerves. With my new found confidence I marched to the desk in the centre of the room. The old woman looked up and pushed her glasses back up the bridge of her nose, she stared at me sternly obviously I had to speak first.

"We have been summoned to a meeting in conference room 11, but I do not know which direction I need to go to get there" I explained. The woman made a sound of annoyance and riffled through a series of papers on her desk, she found the one she wanted, scanned it and then demanded our names. We told the old grump, she looked us over seeking out a lie. Once satisfied she called over a page and told him where we needed to go. I was glad to leave the lady and followed the page down a corridor to the left of the hall.

"Personally I think that she needs to work on her people skills, what I don't get is how people with manners like hers get jobs which require hospitality, there is no way she is from the Airwalker tribe we are friendly folk." Jet exclaimed as we made our way down a wide corridor. Numerous doors lined the walls, we had just passed conference room 8 and as we got closer to room 11 once again I had to swallow my nerves and lock them away. The page knocked on the door.

A few moments later the door was opened revealing Sir Marthol, he smiled when he saw us and motioned for us to enter. I lead my friends into the room and the three of us froze momentarily just inside the room obviously seeing the same thing. Two Sneaks were at the front of the room, one standing in a shaded corner and the other standing talking to Lady Thalweight. I stole a glance at my friends and their expressions mirrored each other. Shock.

"Take a seat and we can begin" Sir Marthol instructed from behind us ushering us further into the room. Sneaks were different from the Elder Guards; they were the non magical assassins that the Elder mages used when discrete methods were required to deal with a problem. They were trained in stealth, agility and speed. Seeing them here confirmed my suspicions that something bigger was going down. I took a seat at the large round table placed in the room, Jet and Gyn sat down either side of me. Sir Marthol Took his place at the front of the room next to the Sneak and Lady Thalweight. The younger sneak was instructed to sit at the table, he moved away from the dark corner of the room the light lit his face, the first thing that you noticed was his bright blue eyes, he had sharp features making him look stern, a mop of curly brown hair covered his head. He took a seat near the front and away from us. I turned to Gyn expecting her to return the glance but her eyes were fixed on the young Sneak. I smirked. My attention returned to the front when Sir Marthol cleared his throat.

"I will get straight to business, we have summoned you here for an assignment briefing" he began. I wanted to interrupt him and demand to know why Sneaks are involved if this is a regular assignment, but I swallowed it answering my own demand, clearly this was not a regular assignment. "We have had concerning reports from the Mayor of the Aqua Tribe and the Aqua Elder himself has asked us to send a team to see what is going on in the Tribes lands..."

"And you chose us, excuse me Sir but I don't understand why you would send Apprentice Guards to look into something which and elder mage has requested" I blurted out, Jet shot me a look. Sir Marthol chuckled at my outburst.

"My dear, we are sending you to make a preliminary assessment of the situation in the Aqua Tribes lands, particularly the capital City Mirage. Depending on your findings we can then dispatch qualified Elder Guards. I am sending a Sneak with you he may come in handy." Sir Marthol looked to the Man standing beside him; first impressions told me that this was the young Sneaks farther.

"I am sending my son Blake with you he is the best apprentice Sneak we have. He will be able to help with any reconnaissance work that may help you with your research and he is trained in tactics." The Sneak explained he had a rough voice which grated on me. I glanced at Blake he seemed nonchalant, his gaze fixed on his Farther.

"So summing up we want you three and Blake to head into the Aqua Tribes land and head for the City of Mirage. Once there you are to meet with the Mayor and he will explain his concerns and problems to you. From there you will be required to collect information on these issues, I'm sure the Mayor will give you somewhere to stay where you can collate your findings and report back to us. Is that understood?" Lady Thalweight stated formally ensuring she made eye contact with each of us in turn.

"Yes my lady" I answered, Gyn and Jet nodded in agreement.

"When do we leave?" Gyn asked.

"As soon as possible, you need to go and pack a travel bag and meet at the stables, from there you will leave immediately. Keera I need you to summon one of your Hawks, it will be useful to you and can carry messages back to us, but I'm sure you know how to make use of a hawk... any more questions?" she asked.

"Go to Mirage, talk to mayor, collect info, report, nope I think I've got it" Jet said. Gyn and I nodded in agreement.

"Very well, then I suggest you go and pack, I will get food reserves from the dining hall sent to the stables for the journey" Sir Marthol Said, he headed to the door opening it indicating that this briefing was now over.


	4. Chapter 4

I stood slowly dumfounded by the abrupt dismissal; the entire meeting had seemed rushed. Was it to get the meeting over with or is it urgent for us to depart quickly and they did not want to waste time so settled to telling us the basics. I mentally scolded myself; I was over thinking things again the best thing to do would be to wait till we got to Mirage and then assess the situation once we had spoken to the Mayor. That did not stop me feeling a little ill-informed about this whole mission. Gyn seemed to share similar concerns.

"They didn't tell us much did they? Basically we have no idea what we need to be doing till we have spoken to the Mayor and that does not help us prepare. We may as well be going to Mirage blind!" she ranted clearly unimpressed with the shoddy briefing we had been given.

"That my dear is why I have been assigned to go with you" an unfamiliar voice said from behind us. The three of us turned to see who had spoken and were confronted with the Sneak apprentice from the meeting. Funny he hadn't even acknowledged our existence in the room. Now he was standing you could see that he wore a plain back, rather tight fitting t-shirt and a pair of black jeans. His belt held a range of different contraptions; I presumed they were to do with his profession as a Sneak. He gave us a haughty wave and strode away down the corridor and out of sight.

Once outside of the tower I said goodbye to Gyn and Jet, I would meet up with them later at the stables we all had packing to do. I followed the familiar route back to my chambers, what a day this had turned out to be. I woke up expecting another day of training and lessons only to have a surprise mission sprung on me and sent packing. I unlocked the door to my chambers and went inside. I collapsed on the sofa needing a moment to set things straight in my mind. I felt uncomfortable, not liking it at all when I didn't feel in control of a situation and right now not knowing what to expect in Mirage left me feeling lost. I could not let others know I felt this way; I had to be strong for my team, my friends. I shook my head, hoping the motion would shake away my swirling thoughts. Sitting dwelling on these matters was not going to help what will be, will be, so the saying goes.

I stood and made my way into the bedroom, pulling my saddle bag from out from under my bed and placed it on top. I began gathering some clothes, folding them as small as I could to save space. Next I made my way to the bathroom knowing that some of my ointments may come in handy, grabbing a selection including my eye bag remover and a particularly useful one which helps prevent infection in wounds, although part of me did hope we would not need it. I also decided to grab some of my poisons they could come in handy in tricky situations, one of the most useful being the crushed petals of an Anbarka flower which could put someone into a slumber if they inhaled the powder. I packed away the ointments and poisons and included some raw ingredients in case I needed to make more.

I now needed to get myself ready; first I braided my long hair into a plait it so didn't get in my way tying off the end with a vine. I changed my clothes now sporting a white off the shoulder shirt tucked into a brown leather bodice, khaki leggings and my special pair of plimsolls on my feet; these allowed me to move in near silence and were more nimble when moving through a tree canopy. I fastened my holster around my hips, securing my daggers in each of the two holsters and a switch blade hidden in a pocket on the belt. Next I filled a quiver with arrows; I could tip some of them in a poison if I needed to. I donned my Elder Guard Apprentice cloak (the official cloak Guards were expected to wear on missions) fasting the clasp which had my Tribes symbol engraved on the silver; a tree with its branches reaching far. After Slinging my Quiver and Yew Longbow over my shoulder I drew power from my amulet and projected my awareness to the nearby woods; she would not go far, I found her resting on the upper branches of a spruce tree and commanded her to come to me, I needed her help.

I gathered my saddle bag from the bed and took one last look around my chambers wondering how long it would be before I was back here. The last thing I needed was my brown leather gauntlet which I slipped onto my left hand, it stretched to my elbow after all I wouldn't want the talons of an adult female Goshawk cutting into my arms. I turned and left my quarters making sure I locked the door behind me.

I searched the sky for any sign of Narla, I knew she wasn't far when I heard her shrill call. She came gliding over the roof of my Quarters and landed lithely on the gauntlet, I had my arm help out to receive her, a chunk of meat between my fingers. She gobbled down the meat and turned her beady eyes towards me tweeting in greeting. She was a beautiful animal. I stroked her soft plumage, her short, broad wings and a long tail, are both perfect adaptations for manoeuvring through trees in the forests. She averaged 58-64 cm in length with a 108–127 cm (43–50 in) wingspan, slate-grey above and grey below.

"Come on girl we have a mission to complete" I informed her, she kept her eyes fixed on me, intelligence emanating from her. With Narla comfortable on my arm I turned and made my way to the stables.


	5. Chapter 5

It did not take me long to reach the stables I immediately made my way around the back of the stables knowing exactly where I would find Minx. The pasture was large ensuring that the many horses that live in the Towers Stables have plenty of space, but I did not have to worry about finding Minx, she always found me first. It didn't take long for me to hear her whinny; I looked in the direction of the call and saw my beautiful Holsteiner mare trotting towards me. I grinned, Breeze jets dapple grey Camargue stallion followed her to the fence. Minx nickered in greeting lowering her head for me to stroke; at 17hh in height she was tall. She had a glorious deep chestnut coat. Her breed of horse was difficult to come by these days, the Holsteiner horse has a small head, arched neck, well angled shoulder, strong back, powerful hind legs and like most of her breed she had a very bold character.

Narla still sat on the gauntlet which would make saddling Minx a task indeed. I raised my arm high instructing her to fly; I would call her back when we were ready to leave although she would most likely follow us anyway. I lead Minx from the pasture and tethered her to a post, then decided to collect Breeze too it would save Jet a job and hopefully speed him up. Breeze was shorter than Minx standing at 14.2hh. I entered the stables through the back door and found Gyn preparing her Palomino mare Garnet, grooming her golden coat so it shone. I approached them, feeding Garnet a mint which she now began to expect from me every time I visited.

"All packed and sorted then?" I asked her rubbing Garnets long nose.

"As ready as I will ever be, I keep thinking I have forgotten something but I think it's just the knowledge that we will be away for a while has made me paranoid" she said

"Oh that reminds me. I packed a few vials of poisons for you and have labelled them so you know what they are and what they do. It's just in case we are separated or some other reason which means I am unable to supply you with them." I handed Gyn a Velvet pouch containing a selection of small vials. She could use them to tip her darts and blades.

"Thanks I have been meaning to ask you for some of your goodies" she said accepting the pouch and attaching it to her belt. "Any sign of Jet?"

"Nope and I refuse to tack Breeze again, his lack of urgency astounds me" I replied in exasperation. "Speak of the devil and he shall appear" I laughed as Jet Sauntered into the sables.

His Bright Blonde hair stuck out at in places (which was no different to usual) it looked as though he had just woken up; although it was messy it suited him, looked natural. There was an enthusiastic gleam in his grey eyes. He wore brown linen trousers and a white shirt, the belt around his waist was loaded with his throwing knives and a long katana sheathed in a holster hung over his shoulder.

"What took you so long?" Gyn demanded "we are both ready, just need to tack the horses"

"I took a nap" he said. Me and Gyn stared at him in disbelief, we needed to leave for an important mission as soon as possible and Mr Airwalker here was taking a nap. "what! Don't look at me like that I'm all packed aren't I?"

"So at no point during this trip you will have to borrow supplies" I asked raising my eyebrows.

"Who knows" he replied grinning.

I shook my head. "Come on let's get the horses ready then we can leave as soon as the sneak shows up" I said and left for the tack room. I collected Minx's tack knowing exactly which one was hers as there had been a special perch added to the saddle for Narla to sit on and rest. I carried the equipment out to Minx and began to get her ready, Jet joined me and for once he got his own horse ready. I fastened the Girth tight to ensure both the saddle and I did not fall off on our trip and adjusted the stirrups to a comfortable length. Sliding the bridle over her head I ensured the bit was placed comfortably in her mouth and then secured the fastens. I attached my saddle bags and sleeping mat onto her saddle remembering to add a curry comb to the bag for grooming her. Minx was ready. I turned to jet he was finishing Breezes Bridle and secured his bag. Grabbing our horse's reigns we lead them round to the front of the stables to meet Gyn. She was ready, standing talking to the Sneak, Blake. He held the reigns of a large 16hh painted stallion, patches of brown and white covering its coat the animal stood patiently beside him. The both halted their conversation as we approached and turned to face us.

"Right folks are we ready to make haste" Jet called swinging himself up onto Breezes back, his Air magic made the task look effortless. We all raised our eyebrows at him, he was quite peculiar sometimes. Following his lead I pulled the reigns over Minx's head and because she was too tall for me to mount from flat ground and I did not have air magic, I drew power from my amulet and projected it to the ground below my feet pulling with an upward movement of my hand. The ground below me rose to form a mound, making it easier for me to get onto Minx's back. Once seated comfortably I looked around to see if everyone else was ready. I gave a sharp whistle to call Narla, she swooped down nestling on her perch behind me.

"Everyone ready, we have everything right?" I asked looking to each member of our little team.

"I think so, I have attached to food sack that was left for us by Sir Marthol onto my saddle" Gyn Replied.

"Do we just leave; do we not have to wait till we are instructed to go?" Jet asked.

"No, we leave when ready and send a message when we arrive in Mirage" Blake answered, I Jumped slightly at his voice I was not used to him speaking.

"Very well, let's go then" I said turning Minx towards the Tower Wall Gates and spurring her into a gallop. I could hear the hooves of the other horses close behind.


	6. Chapter 6

It was good to feel the wind in my face as we sped towards the gate. A large wall surrounded the Elder tower and all the other outer buildings; there was only one gate in and out of the complex. As we rushed closer the sheer height of the wall became noticeable, it stretched high into the sky and was at least 5 meters thick, wide enough to allow Elder Guards to man the top. I could feel the power of the animal beneath me as we galloped closer to high arched gate, a gaping space in the wall with wrought iron grate that could be lowered to keep people out. We made our way through the large arch, the walls thickness made it seem like a short tunnel. The horses hooves clopped on the cobbles ground, the sound echoed off the walls increasing the sound. We exited the gateway now out of the tower complex and into the open. Narla Screeched watching a large black crow which took flight once we cleared the wall.

The four of us kept our horses galloping enjoying the freedom of the ride, we turned North east towards the Aqua Tribes lands. A vast plain spread out before us, the location of the Elder Tower was thought about carefully. It was located on the outer plains of the Airwalker lands which were well known for their open flat land. A few trees were scattered randomly and a strong wind blew across the open space. The high wall around the Tower Complex Protected those living inside, but it was these strong winds which the Airwalkers loved. It was the main source of their power both magical and non, their land was scattered with large windmill contraptions and the energy produced by the strong winds turning the blades produced power for the factories.

"How long till we reach the Aqua Tribes border" Jet shouted from somewhere behind me, his horse was not built for speed.

"About 3 days ride" I called back. The wind seemed to swallow my words making the shout sound weak.

Eventually the winds forced us to slow to a walk; the horses became tired quickly due to the wind buffering us constantly. Heads bowed to the wind we trekked onwards, I didn't understand how people could live on the plains the constant gale was beginning to frustrate me; my body ached from the effort of keeping myself upright in the saddle. Narla stayed on her perch even she did not want to have to battle the winds to fly free. The scenery never seemed to change it were as though we were walking on the spot, not going anywhere. Blake's voice sounded through the blustery weather.

"We should stop for the night soon, we need to set up camp while it's still light. Look out for any large tree we will stop by it" he shouted so he could be heard.

"ok" I called back.

I scanned the land looking for a suitable resting place but all I could see were small shrubs and wispy trees. The sun began to dip and our search for a tree became more pressing, we rose over the top of one of the rolling hills and in the dip below I saw what we needed. Three Large trees were grouped together in a small copse.

"it's perfect" Gyn cried from somewhere to my left. We spurred our horses into a gallop and sped towards our home for the night, the slope of the hill made our decent faster and soon the trees loomed only a couple of meters ahead.

"whoa there!" I called pulling in Minx's reigns to slow her down; she came to a halt next to the trees. I dismounted keeping a hold of her reins I lead her to one of the trees and tethered her to it. Although the trees helped break the wind it still whistled through the branches above us, the leaved rustling wildly. Once all the horses were secured we gathered in the centre of the three trees scanning the area in silence. A black crow nestled in the branches above us also seeking cover, funny how Narla had not chased it away. I looked for her; she was still nestled on her perch her head tucked under her wing.

"How am I supposed to sleep with a gale blowing around me" Gyn complained setting herself on the ground and resting her back on a tree trunk.

"You are forgetting that I grew up on the plains, allow me to take care of the wind" Jet said. He drew power and stretched his arms into the air then brought them down slowly so they rested against his side. As soon as his arms connected with his hips the air around us grew still.

"Impressive trick" Blake said. Jet smiled.

"I have created a bubble of calm about 5 meters in diameter, if you venture past 5 meters the wind will hit you again." He explained going to unload Breeze.

Narla perked up once the wind settles and moved to nestle on a branch of one of the trees, ignoring the crow. I unpacked my supplies, unrolling my sleeping mat and placing it on a flat bit of ground ensuring I had moved any stones or twigs I wouldn't want them digging in my back. Gyn had lit a fire and was handing out chunks of bread and cheese to each of our companions. I gave my thanks as she passed me mine, it was a bland meal compared to what we would have back at the tower but what would you expect when we were in the middle of nowhere. I ate my food keeping up my strength was important. The sun had now dipped below the horizon and the only source of light for miles around was our campfire.

"We should get some sleep that way we can leave early in the morning and cover more ground" Blake said. Gyn yawned and nodded, Jet stretched rising to his feet. "I do think that we should set a watch duty"

"We are in the middle of nowhere why do we need to set watch" Jet said. It was just because he didn't want to have to participate sleep was precious to him.

"It's better to be safe than sorry" Gyn said agreeing with Blake.

"I will take first watch, I'm not that sleepy at the moment" I volunteered.

"Ok Gyn you do second shift, I will do third and Jet you last" Blake arranged. I smiled at least we won't have to wait for Jet in the morning as he will already be up. I watched while the other three climbed into their sleeping bags and wiggled into a comfy position. It didn't take long for soft snores to fill the air alongside the crackling of the fire. It was eerie being the only one awake the night pressed down on me making me jumpy and I didn't feel safe on the ground. I made my way to Narla's tree and lithely climbed up into the branches; I lived in the branches back home with my Tribe. From this position I could see the whole camp clearly and had a better view of the land around us. I sat for a while stroking Narla's plumage my back resting against the trunk and legs stretched out along a branch. I grew bored although this was a good thing; it meant we were safe at least and there was not long left of my shift. A rustling in the branches above me made me jump and Narla to look up emitting a warning screech. I shushed her looking up into the branches noticing that the black crow had settled on a branch above us. Narla did not like it begin so close and did not take her eyes off it she let out small threatening twitters every few minutes. I frowned, how odd should she not be hunting a bird like that.

I breathed a sigh of relief when my watch was over, I was tired now and was eager to get away from the creepy crow. Scooping Narla up I placed her on my shoulder, wincing slightly as she clamped on to my skin. I climbed down from the tree with ease and made my way over to Gyn.

"Hey Gyn," I whispered gently shaking her shoulder.

"Yeh" she whispered back groggily.

"It's your watch, time to get up" I said. She stretched and sat up rubbing sleep from her eyes looking a bit worse for wear.

"Already it feels like I have just gotten to sleep" she said climbing out of her sleeping bag, she sat for a moment and I waited; she needed her eyes to adjust to the darkness. Narla watched her intently.

"ok?" I asked.

"yeh, yeh im fine you get some sleep" she said. I nodded making my way over to my sleeping bag. Narla took flight and settled on a branch above my bed and away from the crow. I climbed into the bag and wriggled to find a comfortable spot and soon drifted off to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7

I awoke to the bright sunlight glaring through my eyelids. The night had seemed too short. Breathing in the fresh air deeply I found myself choking, whatever that was, was not fresh air. Confused and breathing through my mouth so I did not have to breathe in that smell I sat up and looked around. Jet was sat bright eyed and bushy tailed by the fire, unusual for him. With horror I realised the smell was coming from the cooking pot which Jet had sitting on the fire. Was Jet cooking?

I climbed out of my sleeping bag, which proved to be quite difficult as I had somehow managed to tangle it around my body. I glanced at the tree where the crow was the previous night and gaped, there were now two of the buggers. I tore my eyes away and got to my feet. Gyn was still asleep as was Blake so that meant that I was going to have to feign enthusiasm for his food. I made my way over to the fire; it crackled and danced radiating warmth. I sat down on the ground next to Jet tucking my legs under my body.

"You look awfully jovial for this time in the morning Jet" I said to him raising an eyebrow. He grinned.

"yes well when Mr Assassin is the one waking you up you don't complain" he replied, I laughed " want some breakfast I made it myself" he said proudly. With that level of pride how can I refuse, plastering a smile on my face I replied.

"Sure"

"Great" he beamed. He grabbed a smaller, square shaped tin bowl and a ladle. He scooped a ladle full of the substance in the cooking pot and slopped in into the tin. The liquid was brown and full of strange lumps of all different shapes and sizes. I held back a gag as he was watching me expectantly. Dipping my spoon into the concoction I gathered a small amount and brought it to my lips, the smell assaulted my nostrils; it was a strange musky smell like wet dog. Putting the spoon in my mouth I swallowed as quickly as I could trying to straighten my features from their grimace.

"Well what do you think?" he asked looking at me intensely as though my opinion was incredibly important to him.

"It's certainly interesting Jet, what's in it?" I asked looking dubiously at the lumps floating in the liquid.

"Just a bit of this and that, I know the wild plants on these plains that are edible" He said smiling widely.

"Nice".

I slowly picked at the stew, when Blake and Gyn awoke they too were offered the interesting meal. I grimaced at Gyn and she looked grimly back at the prospect of eating Jets food. In the end I could not eat anymore so thanked Jet for the food but said that I was full.

"We had better head off soon" Blake said once we were all fed and watered although I use the term fed loosely.

We packed up the camp ensuring everything was tied onto the horses and nothing was left behind. Sensing we were leaving Narla flew to her perch on the back of Minx. We mounted out rides and left the camp heading east, I turned and looked back to the fading copse of trees a chill ran down my spine as I saw the crows take flight, something about them was not right.

Our routine continued for two days and we were getting closer to the border of the Aqua Tribes lands. Progress was slower than we had hoped due to the wind. I sat slumped in the saddle my brain had been numbed with this repetitive scenery. I was glad when I began to notice the subtle changes in the landscape it became more rugged, small rocky outcroppings became more frequent and the grass became coarser. Another good thing was that the wind had started to drop it was now more like a refreshing breeze caressing my face and you could smell the faint hint of salt in the air being swept in from the coats. We still had three more days till we reached Mirage.

Sunset was different here the rays of the setting sun reflected of the rocks refracting it in different directions and colours. We needed to find somewhere to spend the night but trees seemed even more sparse here we would have to settle for a rock outcropping. Continuing on we really needed to find somewhere to stop, the ground under the horses feet became loose as though there was sand mixed with the soil. Finally Blake spotted a perfect resting place and made a bee line for it, it was a large rock which had a slight overhang which we could settle beneath. Dismounting we secured the horses and removed our bags. I ran a curry comb through Minxes hair removing the dirt and leaf litter which had become tangled in her coat. She gleamed when I was finished nickering in appreciation, I fed her an apple and left her to rest. My next job was to claim a good sleeping spot, I unrolled my sleeping mat and placed it on a flat piece of land being careful not to place it on the rocky patches.

"There is no wood around here how will we light a fire?" Gyn exclaimed from behind me, she had dug a small pit in the ground but had nothing to put in it.

"I will go and look for firewood, if you all set up the camp I won't be long" I said picking up a leather tie so I could bind the wood together making it easier to carry.

"Want some help?" Jet asked

"No I will be quicker on my own, you stay and help here" I told him, his shoulder slumped slightly. "I will not be long"

I called for Narla while putting on my gauntlet though I may not need it she would fly above me. I left the camp and headed back into the Airwalker lands to look for some trees or bushes, the light began to fade so I needed to find some wood quickly, the dingy light made the small bushes in the area appear distorted. I made my way over to a large shape hoping it would be a tree or large bush I heard Narla call from above me, letting me know she was near. I smiled to myself when I came across a collection of small woody bushes I began to pick up small twigs that lay scattered on the ground. After a while I had collected enough to keep the fire burning for the time we will be at our rocky out cropping. While I was gathering the last couple of twigs a strange feeling came over me, I felt uneasy, watched. I picked up the pace but was startled when a loud shrill squawk sounded from behind me; I dropped the wood in shock and spun round.

One of the large crows sat on the ground before me cold horror flooded through me as the bird began to morph. Its wings and legs filled out and lengthened, its head swelled and body filled out the feathers changed into cloth a long flowing robe covered the figure before me, a large hood covered the face. I had never seen one before but right now I knew exactly what was stood before me... A Shadow Mage.

For a moment I was rooted to the spot my brain failing to work but then instincts kicked in I whistled to Narla informing her to fly back to camp and warn the others then I whipped out my daggers the figure was to close for me to use my longbow. The shadow mage reached into the folds of the black cape and with a tanned hand and withdrew a strange cylindrical item he held it out in front of him. I heard a snick and a blade shot out of one end of the cylinder, then a second snick and a blade shot out of the other end, a double sided short sword. My heart hammered in my chest I should be thankful that he was not using his magic as shadow mages specialised in illusion and trickery I had to be careful not trusting anything around me.

With the other tanned hand the figure reached up and removed the hood. I was breathless for a moment, I had always though shadow mages to be strange warped creatures but the young man before me was anything but. His skin was lightly tanned giving his an exotic edge, eyes so dark it was like starring into an abyss and straight black hair that fell into his eyes. He stared at me maintaining eye contact while shrugging off the cloak revealing an all back outfit, the tight fitting shirt revealing his rippling muscles. An amulet hung around his neck it was a deep purple colour. His lips quirked up into a smirk and he spun his blade around with his fingers turning it into a lethal whirl. I got into a fighting stance.

"let's dance" he said with a slight accent and lunged towards me with such speed that I had not realised his blade had caught me till I felt the searing pain as he gashed my arm. I dodged his second attack nicking his cheek with my dagger. He shocked me with an assault of such speed all I could do was dodge his blade. Rolling to the floor to avoid another strike I found myself sprawled on the floor gasping. My body stung and I felt light headed I searched my body with my finders and found numerous gashes covering my body. As my blood leaked away so did my consciousness. The shadow mage loomed over me observing my descent into blackness, he smirked again and my vision burred.

"sweet dreams" he said over his shoulder.

I felt his hands wrap themselves around my waist as he lifted me and slung me over his shoulder. My head swam and he began to carry me away, my fire wood lay abandoned on the floor. Before I blacked out completely I heard feet thudding on the ground and a voice yell in the distance, then everything went black...


	8. Chapter 8

I stirred, my body stung and my head thumped. A rough uncomfortable tugging on the skin of my arm caused me to open my eyes. The young shadow mage sat on the floor beside me, a pair of tweezers in his hand. I yanked my arm from his grasp and shrank away from him throwing a venomous glare in his direction. A hand connected with my left cheek causing my head to snap to the right, I held in my yelp as my cheek stung.

"Sit still unless you want these cuts to become infected" He said calmly ignoring the fact that he had just struck me. He held his hand out obviously expecting me to give him my arm back. I placed my elbow back in his warm grip refusing to look at him. Inspecting the rest of my body I noticed that my feet were bound with a thick rope I was shocked that I hadn't noticed before but awaking to see a shadow mage beside me claimed all of my attention. I was lying on a thin sleeping mat and could feel every lump and bump beneath me; bandages covered some of the gashes on my body, why was he patching me up? I turned away observing my surroundings it was obvious that we were deeper in the Aqua lands the ground had a sandy texture and there was a larger quantity of ragged rocky outcroppings, there was a stronger smell of salt in the air. The small camp was nestled under a rocky arch so it was protected from the elements, a small fire crackled away in the centre of the camp and two large black stallions were tethered at the far end of the camp.

"Ow!" I snapped my attention turning back to the Shadow mage, my eyes found his unintentionally and I found it difficult to tear my gaze away...such deep eyes. I quickly forced my face back into an angry scowl, had he noticed my moment of weakness?

"You have dirt in your wounds, I need to get it out" he said, lips curling up at the corners slightly.

"Why bother?" I snapped "after all you inflicted the wounds then took me hostage, why patch me up?"

"I can stop and leave them the way they are" he said raising an eye brow.

I ignored him and turned away, I didn't have my pack with me I could have just used one of my ointments. If I could break free and get back to my friends I could patch myself up, I could call for Narla and get her to lead me back. I tried to draw power, but felt nothing. My blood ran cold and my hand instinctively snapped to where my amulet should be. I felt nothing but skin and cloth.

"My amulet! Where is it?" I growled turning on the man beside me. He looked up at me though thick lashes another smirk spreading across his lips.

"Do you honestly think that I would allow and apprentice guard to have their power amulet and weapons while they are my captive, please give me some credit" he said a slight laugh in his words, mocking me.

"How did you know I was an apprentice Guard?" I asked, Shadow Mages never left Karox how would they know something like that.

"My dear apprentice guards wear long plain black cloaks with a silver buckle clasp sporting their tribe's emblem. Your cloak has a tree etched into the metal meaning you are from the Earthen tribe along with the fact that you have an emerald power gem. I have never met anyone from the Earthen tribe before, how exciting." He explained arrogantly.

I did not reply, leaving him to pull and prod at my wounds. How did he know so much about Thane? Things have changed here so much since Shadow Mages were last in this country the only explanation is that we have not been as free from them as we had thought and they have been skulking in the shadows accumulating information. The thought sent a chill down my spine. I looked back at him, my amulet hung around his neck next to his own. He appeared to be around my age, funny how someone so pleasing to the eye, so composed could be a Shadow Mage it just shows that you can't judge a book by its cover. Deep down you never know what some people are capable of.

"My friends will find me if I don't escape first" I told him frankly part of me wanted to annoy him, enflame him, his calm demeanour was unnerving.

"I know about your friends dear, in fact the Sneak is not a bad tracker. Too bad that we are one step ahead of them you see we have an illusion set up around to camp, someone could pass right by and just see and empty bit of land. As for you escaping what are you going to do with no amulet and no weapons?" he said light-heartedly.

I growled in frustration I would rather he slap me again it was difficult to build a kidnapper and captive relationship when the kidnapper was so...laid-back. Footsteps heading in our direction made me swivel to face the sound hoping that they belonged to someone I knew, my heart sank when I saw that it was a second Shadow Mage. He was taller and thinner than the one sitting beside me and nowhere near as much muscle definition. I could see a family resemblance in the eyes except the new comers face was harsh his features sharp, bird like, making him look stern.

"Hurry up Vex we are not running an infirmary" the bird man said, his voice was rough and not pleasant to the ears. "We need to get moving her band of miscreants are closing in, our illusion may be up but we don't know how long it will keep us hidden." He said moving away gathering up some of their supplies.

Vex finished bandaging me up and then rose going to help his brother prepare the horses. With both their backs turned I seized my moment, he had forgotten to secure my hands. I worked quickly to untie my feet, my wounds still throbbed but I pushed that to the back of my mind as I quietly rose to my feet and began to creep away. What about my weapons and amulet? The sudden thought caused me to pause and that pause cost me.

"Not so fast" Bird man said from behind me, I whirled around and starred in dismay as a large quantity of snakes slid out from under his cloak and towards me. My body was rooted to the spot, the snakes slithered closer curling themselves around my body. One wrapped itself around my chest and began to squeeze cutting off my air supply, I began to choke and panic consumed me. My vision began to blur and I sank to my knees.

"Taleik that's enough!" Vex reprimanded sternly.

The snakes vanished, an illusion. I lay on the floor gasping they had seemed so real, felt so real. Footsteps crunched on the ground and strong arms helped me to my feet. My body shook and Vex held me steady, he leant forwards and whispered in my ear.

"Pull a stunt like that again and you will never see your amulet again and no amulet means no magic, understand? I expect full cooperation." I nodded whilst giving him my most venomous glare. A satisfied smile crossed his face. "Good, I guess that means you don't need to be bound if you're going to be an obedient hostage eh".

He turned back to his horse to finish packing confident that I would be an 'obedient hostage' if I wanted my amulet back. I slumped back down onto the floor and sat there while they finished packing. I was confused I couldn't fathom Vex out and I have to be honest and say that his threat shocked me I was stupid to think that a shadow mage should be anything but devious and scheming.

"Ok that's everything, get the elemental and we can get moving we need to reach the safe house then we can get the information we need, we can no longer fly with her in tow" Taleik said mounting one of the black stallions.

"Earth girl" Vex said. I turned towards him frowning; he patted the saddle of the second horse. "up you go we need to get moving".

I sighed and stood up, dusting the dirt from my clothes; not that it would make a difference I was filthy. I got to my feet and made my way over to the horse.

"I have a name you know" I admonished climbing onto the horse with some help from Vex.

"And that would be?" he asked

"Like I'm telling you" I spat. He laughed it was a nice sound for such a corrupt individual.

"Earth girl it is" he said swinging himself up behind me, reaching round my body to grasp the reigns. My skin tingled where he touched it, I mentally scolded myself he was the enemy I told myself that it was the stressful situation I was in it was messing with my mind.

With us all settled on our horses Vex lead the way east and I had no idea where I was being taken or what they wanted with me.


	9. Chapter 9

The horse's hooves thundered on the ground below me as we galloped further into the Aqua tribes land, the motion of the horses gait lulled me. I began to doze in the saddle exhaustion making me forget about the shadow mage sat so closely behind me, the last 24 hours had exhausted me. I awoke leaning back on something hard, had we stopped? No we hadn't I could feel the movement of the horse beneath me. I slowly opened my eyes and realised with a mixture of embarrassment and dismay that I was leaning back against Vex's chest, my head tucked under his chin. I grimaced, sitting up and rubbing my eyes before turning my head to steal a look at Vex.

"Sleeping beauty awakes, you do realise it was quite difficult to control a horse and keep you from falling off it at the same time." he said giving me haughty grin. This guy undeniably confuses me, he kidnapped me! Why would he care if I fell off the horse and gained a few bruises and scrapes he had already cut numerous gashes across my body? I didn't know where I stood with him one minute he just seemed like an ordinary guy but the next he would morph into Mr Shadow Mage. I decided to ignore his comment I was not going to let this get any more warped.

"Quit flirting with the captive, you're just going to complicate your own plan" Taleik droned from our left throwing me an accusing glare. What plan and what did I do to deserve that look?

"Shut up Taleik your still angry because farther put in me charge of this mission as my Shadow trial." Vex retaliated.

"I should not be playing sidekick for my younger brother" Taleik snapped. Vex growled to himself, I was close enough to hear his displeasure at his brothers words. "You are too young and immature to lead such a mission."

"Isn't that why farther sent you with me, to make sure I'm on task" Vex replied trying hard to keep his voice even, but there was a hidden threat beneath his words.

I remained quiet while they battled through their sibling rivalry there was some deep underlying issue between them. I went over their conversation in my head; one particular aspect of it gave me a cunning idea. Taleik had reprimanded Vex for flirting with me; perhaps I could use this to my advantage, dupe him, earn his trust and then deftly acquire my amulet from around his neck. Smiling inside at my new formed plan I decided to put it into action right away. I leant back and rested myself against his chest placing my head by his shoulder, I felt him stiffen at my actions but his body quickly relaxed. I glanced up at him noticing the slight smile curling the corner of his lips.

We kept riding even once the sun had set beyond the horizon and we were plunged into semi darkness. I needed to make sure that I carried out my plan and escaped before we arrived at the safe house that the Shadow mages were talking about, according to Taleik we should be there in a day I had to act quickly. We eventually stopped for the night and the men set up camp, as soon as my sleeping mat was ready I slipped into it ensuring to say goodnight to Vex.

I didn't sleep well, my plan was swirling around my head I had to act this morning whilst Taleik was on his scout, we would arrive at the safe house tomorrow and I couldn't risk getting stuck there. I sat on a flat rock near the horses; the two beasts stood quietly blending in with the blackness of the night. Taleik left the camp to scout the area once the sun had risen. Vex awoke shortly after his hair was slightly dishevelled but it looked good it gave him a rugged edge. I watched as he light a fire by striking two pieces of flint together, each spark of the rock lit up his muscles, they flexed with the force needed to create a spark.

I hadn't realised I had been staring at him till he looked up and smirked at me. I was glad that it was Vex that I had to entice as he was doing half of the work for me, Taleik would have been a different story. Vex patted the mat next to him indicating that I join him there. I rose from my rock and made my way over to him, gently swinging my hips in a feminine fashion. I sat on the mat closer to him that I would have liked but it was a necessary move, though I had to be careful; I couldn't make my intentions obvious it had to seem natural.

"So, what is an apprentice guard doing out of the Elder tower?" Vex asked me handing me a sausage on a skewer, he held his over the flames and I copied watching the flames lick the meat.

"What is a shadow mage doing outside of Karox?" I replied shooting him a grin. My plan did not include divulging information for him, it's what I wanted to avoid.

"Ah so you're a smart arse" he laughed

"No I just know when to keep my mouth shut" I responded, looking up at him through my lashes. He smiled.

"Perhaps I could loosen your tongue" he said gently pushing a strand of hair from my face. His touch was warm and I found myself captivated by his eyes, all reason leaving my brain as he leant closer holding me with in place with a stare. A small smile flickered across his lips before they met mine; a small fire began to burn deep within me. I was lost blissfully in the moment annoyed when a small voice in the back of my mind interrupted and the more I tried to ignore it the louder it got. _You must get the amulet; it's your only chance. _Snapping out of my mesmeric state a sense of urgency filled me, I needed to get my amulet. I animated myself running my hands up his chest, he sucked in a sharp breath and I nearly lost myself again feeling his perfectly formed chest beneath my fingers. I snaked my hands around his neck and grabbed a fist full of hair with one hand as a distraction, my other hand carefully felt for the clasp of my amulet chain, once I had located it I began to niftily unhook the clasp while my mouth kept him occupied.

The chain unhooked and fell from his neck and at that moment we broke apart both making a desperate grab for my amulet.


	10. Chapter 10

We fell to the floor after the amulet, both scrabbling around, fingers clawing at the soil, elbows nudging and feet kicking. My heart leapt when my fingers clasped around the chain, I yanked it pulling it to me. I had a few seconds to scrabble to my feet before Vex noticed that I had claimed back my amulet. I had just stood vertically when a hand clasped around my ankle, one sharp yank had me crashing to the ground and sprawled out on the floor pain pulsed in my shoulder. The jolt had caused the amulet to slip from my fingers and bounce along the ground a meter in front of me. I kicked out hard with my free leg flailing wildly until my foot connected with something and the "oof" which followed meant that I had hit my target. I scrabbled along the ground toward my gem, spiders the size of my fist appeared out of nowhere and began to scurry around and on me sinking their fangs into my skin. I tried to ignore them reminding myself that it was an illusion but I couldn't help but begin to frantically swat them away, panic welling inside me.

Once again my hand clasped around the cold metal, I held it so tight that it would not surprise me if it left an imprint on my skin. I rolled over onto my back swiping at some of the spiders in the process, for the second time I scrabbled to my feet looking around for the best escape route. My eyes fell on my weapons and I dashed towards them, footsteps thundered behind me, I turned in time to let out half a scream before my breath was knocked out of me as I was tackled to the ground. Vex straddled my struggling form pinning my arms to the floor, I kicked my legs and thrashed around but to no avail. I stopped struggling and we both paused breathing deeply his face inches from mine. He smirked in triumph eyes locked onto mine.

"I do like a good chase and scuffle in the dirt" he said leering at me, inching his face ever so slightly closer to mine.

"Get off me!" I ranted

"mmm I do love your fighting spirit, there is something... alluring about it" he replied once again moving closer to me.

"I said get off me or I will bury you alive" I whispered subconsciously raising my head towards his so what I spoke my lips brushed his. I kept a firm grip on my amulet.

"Is that right?" he whispered back, grinning.

"mmmhu" was all I was able to sound before his lips were pressed firmly onto mine. I gasped and my breathing deepened as the kiss became more aggressive his body pressed against me pinning my body to the ground.

"What the hell is going on!" an angry voice sounded from the other side of camp.

Vex released me and jumped to his feet in one swift movement. I leapt up and drew power from my amulet and aimed it at Vex pulling the earth up around him and buried him up to his neck so all you could see was his head poking out of a pile of compacted earth. He shot me a look of horror and anger, a flicker of movement caused my attention to snap back to Taleik. He had whipped off his cloak revealing a belt of various throwing knives, my blood ran cold he knew that he could not reach me with his nunchuk so he was going to use the knives.

He pulled out a star shaped blade and with a flick of his wrist sent it hurtling in my direction; I rolled out the way using the momentum to push myself back onto my feet. Another blade flew past my ear it was a near miss, frustration glinted in his eye and he drew out five blades. Oh hell. He smirked at me before launching the bladed into the air and towards me; I knew I could not avoid all of them. I pulled power and aimed it at the ground under Taleik's feet the ground softened and he began to sink, panic flashing in his cold eyes. I dove to the ground in the hope to avoid the missiles flying to me but I was not so lucky one of the star blades hit my in the side and wedged itself into my body. I yelped in pain clutching my side, did I dare pull it out?

"Nooo! Taleik what are you doing?" Vex yelled in panic as I writhed in the floor.

"This is your fault you let her escape, I had no choice!" his brother bellowed back straining in his trap. My injury had stopped my enchantment and now Taleik was stuck up to his shoulder in solid ground. I took a few calming breaths and stumbled to my feet gathering my weapons, with one hand clasped around the star to stem the bleeding I staggered from their camp, sincerely hoping to find the others before it was too late.


	11. Chapter 11

I moved as fast as I could with my injury trying to put as much space between myself and the shadow mages. The pain in my side was beginning to numb which I didn't know whether it was a good or bad thing. My energy was seeping away like the blood from my wound and my head swam blurring my vision, I knew I could not keep going for much longer. I began to search for somewhere that I could stop and stay put till the others hopefully found me, the terrain was proving unyielding.

I dragged my feet along the ground not having the strength to lift them. I continuously scanned the sky searching for any sign of a large crow; I jumped every time something flew overhead, often proving to be some seabird or another. I yelped when my foot caught a rock on the ground, i hadn't picked up my foot enough to avoid it. The impact caused me to stumble and the ground rushed up towards me as I fell. Pain flared in my side as I had hit the ground but I was able to avoid landing on my injury and pushing the star further into my side. I lay on the ground panting for breath. I was mess dirt and sand covered my clothes and skin, leaves and twigs were tangled in my long hair and the right side of my body was stained red. Some of the blood had begun to dry on my clothes turning it a hideous brown colour.

I lay for a few minutes to conserve some energy and from my vantage point on the ground I noticed a small overhand of rock, it was close to the ground and should be just big enough for me to hide under. Mustering what strength I had I pulled myself toward the narrow opening and slid underneath the rock, here I should be safe from air searches and someone on foot would only find me if they were looking close to the ground. The ground under me was rough and uneven but I did not have the time or energy to move my position.

I heaved a sigh of relief and had one more thing to do; I drew power for my amulet and projected my mind across the land searching for Narla. It took a large amount of energy as I had no idea where she would be so had to scan a far larger distance than I would have normally. I found her, telling her where I was and sent her a visual image of my hiding place, I instructed her to gather the others and come to find me as time was of the essence. My energy waned and I felt the link slip and fade, I closed my eyes to rest and slipped in to blackness.

My subconscious was aware of voices around me but I could not decipher words or put a name to the sounds. I was also aware of movement my body was swaying, was I being carried or on horseback? My stupor was plagued with images of Vex, he would start out as the charming and enticing young man that I was oddly drawn to and then before my eyes he would morph his facial features becoming harsh has he regarded me and scowl on his features making him look deadly. He would strike me and bind me leaving me in the dirt while laughing in scorn with his brother.

I became aware that I was resting back against something hard while my body was jostled gently. My brain connected the same feeling to when I awoke resting against Vex's chest. My feelings were conflicted by this thought causing my eyes to flicker and to mumble Vex's name before I sank back into my state of unconsciousness...

I felt a distant tug, tug, tug on my side.

I heard muted voices mumbling around me.

I felt the softness of the material beneath my body.

I felt a hand stroke my forehead.

My eyes flickered open.


	12. Chapter 12

It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the brightness and focus on Jets beaming face, his smile faltered for a second,

"Never do that to us again you hear me! Guys she is awake." he called, I let out a croaky laugh; my throat was dry.

"It's not like I planned for it to happen Jet." I whispered coarsely. He held a leather bag filled with water to my mouth. I clasped the nozzle between my lips as he poured the liquid into my mouth. "Thanks."

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Gyn's voice sounded, I smiled as her face came into view.

"I've felt better" I said smiling ruefully. I certainly felt more relaxed now I was back with my friends yet I could not say that I was traumatised by my capture, just my escape. I moved to sit up but Jet pushed me shoulder back down.

"You need to be careful, we have patched you up as best we can but we really need to get you to the Mirage infirmary. You're just going to have to take it easy till we get there, which I know will be difficult for you" Gyn explained.

I lifted up my cotton shirt to reveal my stomach. A bandage had been tightly wrapped around my entire midriff; I could see a small line of blood on the bandage where my wound lay underneath. I sat myself up, batting away Jets hand when he tried to push me back down again. I sat on my sleeping mat in the centre of our small camp, near the fire. A small pot was bubbling away on the hearth; the smell of the stew assaulted my nostrils and made my stomach grumble. Blake scooped some out of the cooking pot and into a square tin and handed it to me. He and Gyn exchanged a smile. I gave him my thanks and gobbled down the food, needing it to help me get my strength back, my limbs felt like jelly.

"Once you have some of your strength back we must get moving the crows are circling and I don't want to have to face another attack from them, not with you in this vulnerable state" Blake said. Gyn laid a hand gently on his shoulder.

"Em, I would advise against calling Keera vulnerable" she said to him and we all laughed.

For now we had to sit tight, Blake was right about one thing; I couldn't travel just yet. Jet sat by my side shooting me odd glances when he though I didn't notice. What was with him? Gyn and Blake sat together on the other side of camp deep in conversation. A few more odd glances from Jet caused to me snap.

"What! Why are you looking at me like that!" I snapped irritably. He jumped at my sudden outburst, eyes wide in shock and Gyn and Blake spun round to see what the commotion was about. Gyn got to her feet and made her way over to us, she asked Jet to give us a moment; he did but reluctantly, trudging over to join Blake. Like Jet she gave me a look but it was different it was searching and almost suspicious. I raised my eyebrows I knew a 'talk' was coming.

"What happened when you were taken?" she asked

"What do you mean what happened, I was abducted what do you think happened. I was able to use my magic to escape after a fight with one of the shadow mages"

"How did you get your amulet back?"

"By being devious and using my feminine charm, why?"

"Using your feminine charm and that worked? Keera these are shadow mages I doubt that they were interested in canoodling with an apprentice guard we are natural enemies after all."

"Well it did work because I managed to escape. The shadow mages were men after all and all men are weak to a woman's touch" I said and a flash of Vex straddling me in the dirt flashed in my mind.

"So this shadow mage you charmed was he called Vex?" she asked a single knowing eyebrow raised. I furrowed my brow in confusion.

"Yes, but how do you..."

"How do I know? I know because you whisper his name in your sleep" she said.

"They were nightmares" I blurted "what are you suggesting!" I said sitting up straight in a defensive posture. Knowing fine well what she was suggesting because I battled against the truth myself, Vex was an evil shadow mage and nothing more.

"Em... nothing you did what you had to" she said lowering her eyes to the ground as though she were ashamed for even suspecting anything more. "Sorry".

"Hey its ok can't be too careful right? I said resting my hand on her shoulder. She looked up and smiled slightly. I hadn't realised how dark it had gotten since we started our conversation, the embers of the fire cast an eerie light around the camp. I felt on edge. A sharp bird call overhead made me jump my heart stuttering with what, fear, anxiety... desire. No! I shook my head to clear it. The two men stood and made their way over to us, Jet scanned the sky even though you could not see if anything flew up there.

"We need to set a watch for the night, Jet first, Gyn then I will go last..." Blake organised but I interrupted him.

"Oh no you don't, I am doing a watch too do not treat me like an invalid or we will fall out" I reprimanded glaring at Blake. My friends exchanged a 'look'.

"Ok fine you can do second watch" Blake said heaving a sigh. He knew we had no time to argue if we wanted to be up early in order to reach mirage by tomorrow night.

"Good I can build a wall around the camp it may help with defences" I could see the protests on their lips as using my magic in my weakened state would sap my energy, but they did not say anything. Gyn helped me to my feet and we walked around the edge of the camp, I drew power and pulled at the ground raising it in large chunks. When I had finished we had a ring of soil 2 meters high and a meter think around the camp. I sank to my mat in exhaustion.

...

Jet gently stirred me indicating that it was the start of my watch he smiled at me.

"If you need anyth..." he began but I stopped him with a look. He nodded in understanding and made his way to his sleeping mat. I climbed out of bed clutching my side as I did, a sharp pain shot across my side. I winced but ignored it. I added a few more twigs to the fire; it seemed to crackle in appreciation. I settled by the fire watching the flames jump around in a dance. I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye and turned my head to the source. My heart missed a beat as I recognised the shape to be that of a crow. It called and jumped down the other side of the wall and out of view.

I stared where it had vanished and before I knew what I was doing I was gingerly climbing to my feet and walking over to the wall. I had sealed it all the way round so there were no doors, I needed to make one. I drew power and placed my hand on the wall, some of the soil began to fall away leaving a small arch in the fortification. Blackness greeted me on the other side of the arch. What was if doing this was stupidly dangerous, yet I was lured me onwards. I glanced back at the camp Gyn rolled over facing the other way I frowned, the men were sound asleep. I turned back and stepped through the arch a figure in long black robes waited for me a few meters away, I headed straight towards him.


	13. Chapter 13

Once outside the wall I could feel the fresh sea breeze on my face whipping up small tendrils of my hair. I inhaled deeply, clearing the cobwebs in my mind. The grainy ground crunched slightly under my feet as I approached the hooded figure. I predicted who it would be, it was the shadow mage my fellow travellers had yet to encounter but whom I had, had a very close encounter with. He was not as tall and willowy as his older brother, he was still tall but had a much sturdier frame I had felt firsthand the muscles which covered his body.

"Vex?" I whispered to the dark figure. He reached up and removed the large hood on his cloak revealing his dark black eyes and onyx hair which fell haphazardly into his eyes. A brief smile flickered across his face as I closed the gap between us and stood before him.

"What are you doing here? It is my watch over the camp and therefore my duty to see you off" I told him in a business like tone folding my arms across my chest.

"I wanted to see that you were ok after your altercation with my brother" he told me. My stance softened slightly perplexity furrowing my brow.

"Well as you can see I'm fine we guards are made of tough stuff. You should go now" I said to him, turning to leave.

"Wait" he said grabbing my wrist and pulling me back to him, the motion caused my arm to jar sending a sharp pain shooting through my side. I gasped and my legs buckled, Vex reached out grabbing me under the arm to hold me up, supporting my body. I took a few deep breaths till the pain subsided.

"You ok?" he asked helping me to stand up straight, but he did not remove his arm from around my back.

"I'm fine, tough stuff remember" I said weakly, he laughed.

"You know I still don't know your name"

"I know and its going to stay that way, you have no need to know my name" I told him bluntly.

"What not even after what happened between us" he said smirking down at me. My heart fluttered.

"Nothing happened" I retorted.

"Oh come on! You cannot deny that there was a spark, a smouldering fire deep within you" he said slightly exasperated.

"Don't be stupid Vex! I used you, played with you so I could get my amulet back. We are natural enemies. I am an apprentice guard and am bound to protect my Kingdom, being seen with you goes against our code. I did what I had to, to escape." I snarled Vex looked like he had been slapped in the face. Guilt churned in my stomach.

"We both know that's not true, that may have been your method of escape and it worked, but you cannot deny that you felt a link between us" he said reaching out to stroke my face. I turned my head away. He grabbed my chin forcefully turning my face back to face him. His lips crushed mine with a fierce determination. My reason eluded me for a few seconds; I began to respond to him.

"No!" I said coming to my senses and pulling from his grasp.

"Why not, no one needs to know"

"This, us, is not going to happen do you hear me! I am going to complete my mission then go back to the Elder Tower and graduate, then my life will be dedicated to protecting my kingdom as an elite Elder Guard. There is not room for you. Do not stand in the way of my mission or jeopardise the safety of my Kingdoms people because I will crush you." I warned. His eyes blazed with defiance.

"I do as I am told too and if that means our paths are to cross again then so be it. But I am an important Shadow mage in Karox and I always get what I want no matter how much the object of my desire eludes me, do you hear me!" he growled.

"I do not care what you say Shadow Mage as you are going to be disappointed this time."

"Is that so? We shall see my dear, let the battle commence and we shall see who is the victor in the end. But before I leave you I am going to do what I do best and steal something from you" he said leaning his head down towards mine.

"And just what do you intend to steal from me?" I asked staring into his dark eyes.

"Another kiss" he whispered closing the gap between us, he pulled me to him pinning me against him with the arm around my back. My side throbbed with the force of the embrace. The world around me melted as I was captivated by his fervour. My hands reached up and I locked them around his neck holding him in place. He smiled into the kiss at my reaction I was just strengthening his argument by reacting like this. He gently pulled away and rested his forehead against mine.

"I'm feeling pretty confident that I will win this skirmish my dear. You can lie to me and your friends but don't lie to yourself. I will leave you in peace...for now." He gave me a quick peck on the lips "until next time my dear" he said and with that he let me go and melted into the darkness like a shadow in the night.

I sunk to the ground in despair, silent tears running down my cheeks. My heart was conflicted; everything happened so fast how come I was so hooked when I had only known him a few days and he had kidnapped me for sands sake. Like he had said perhaps there was an unavoidable connection between us that I would eventually have to give into. Until then however I would fight it profusely. My place was with my friends protecting my kingdom from harm. My head snapped up when I heard approaching footsteps, Gyn made her way over to me I smiled weakly at her, she returned the gesture holding a hand out to help me to my feet. I grabbed her hand and she pulled me up.

"You ok?" she asked.

"I will be."


	14. Chapter 14

We arrived in Mirage the following evening. We slowed the horses as we approached the city; my side throbbed from the jarring gait of the horse beneath me. Mirage was breathtaking, so different from my home city which was suspended in the trees canopy high above the ground, spreading for miles through the tree tops. Mirage was like something from a fairy tale, the cone shaped roofs curled round in spirals resembling conch shells. The windows were set with coloured glass from blues, to pinks, yellows and greens. The walls of the buildings were coated in sand making each building look like an extravagant sandcastle. The streets were cobbled and it looked as though sea sanded pebbles were used for the job, small grains of sand littered the cobbles.

The horse's hooves were noisy on the streets floor as we made our way to the large city hall in the centre of Mirage. The city hall followed the theme of the other buildings in the city but on a much larger scale. The building had a large central dome and four small turrets on each of the 'corners' of the building with the mandatory conch shapes roofs. There was a set of steps leading up to the main entrance with large twisted copper pillars; which had turned green due to salty rain were holding up the porch-like overhang covering the blue tinted glass doors leading into the building. It was in this building that the mayor of Mirage and his family lived and worked.

I stopped Minx and climbed down from her back with a little help from Jet. I kept hold of her reins and lead her over to a tether post situated to the right of the stairs and secured her to the post.

"This place is beautiful" Gyn exclaimed motioning to the buildings around her. I nodded in agreement.

"We should go and find the mayor to let him know we are here" Blake said.

We made our way up the sand covered steps towards the double doors at the top. Pushing the doors open was effortless they were so light but could not be very secure. Inside was decorated following the sea theme, large fish tanks were embedded in the walls full of an array of different fish even the desk situated at the end of the room was a large tank filled with tropical marine life. The walls were whitewashed and ornate glass panels hung on them as a painting would. Blake strode towards the desk while I approached one of the many tanks; the small fish darted around the water, small flashes of colour, larger fish swam slower manoeuvring around the plant life in the tank yet they had a grace about them.

"Keera! The mayor will see us now" Jet called across the quiet hall. I laughed as Gyn punched him on the arm hissing at him to be quiet. I made my way over to them.

We were lead down a corridor and up a set of stairs lines with a plush blue carpet. At the top of the stairs was another, although smaller square hall. Various doors lined the walls and some had name plaques nailed to the door, most likely offices for important people. A second desk sat in the centre of the room, the receptionist looked up as we approached. I explained who we were and the purpose of our visit, she picked up the receiver on her desk and pushed a speed dial button, calling through to the mayor to announce our arrival. We were lead to the far wall where one door resided the gold plaque read Mayor Finnus.

Blake knocked once to signal our presence and then opened the door. The office was very spacious, there were shelves lined with various sea themed objects as well as the usual fish tank. The mayor's desk was a crescent shape and faced into the room with a large high backed chair placed behind it. The window covered the far wall behind the desk and it too was curved protruding outwards. The glass was stained many different colours depicting a detailed underwater scene. I guess they really take the sea seriously. I jumped slightly when a chubby hand was thrust in my face.

"ooh I cant say just how glad I am that you are here, I was beginning to think that you weren't coming after all" the mayor said exuberantly. I looked down at him, grasping his warm hand and shaking it. He was a small chap and was rather portly with a white beard and hair although he was bald on-top. His eyes were a striking bright blue and looked too big for his face, he shook each of our hands in turn.

"We erm, ran into some trouble on the way it caused a bit of a delay" I explained.

"No worries, you are here now. I suggest that I tell you where you will be staying while in Mirage then you can all get cleaned up and have a proper night's sleep before reporting back in the morning to get down to business" he said.

"That sounds excellent" Jet exclaimed beaming, the mayor beamed back. These two would get on like a house on fire.

"Now I have a small house for you to use while you are here I will get someone to show you the way so don't worry about directions. Here is a map for each of you if you do need it" he said handing them out. "a bit of advice before you go I would suggest that you do not venture out when it gets dark there have been some strange goings on of late and I would hate for something to happen to you before we can discuss these problems in the morning."

"Why should we stay indoors when it gets late?" Gyn asked looking slightly uneasy.

"We will discuss these matters in the morning child as the hour is getting late and like I said, no one ventures out in the night." We all nodded in agreement. "Is there anything else you need before you go on your way?"

"Where is the infirmary, our friend here had an injury on the way here and needs it seen to quite urgently" Blake said motioning to me.

"Oh my dear are you ok?" he asked in honest concern.

"I am ok but it does need seen to sir" I replied.

"I will ask the guide to take you there immediately then show you to your residence" the small man made his way to the desk and phoned through to his secretary asking for her to send a guide up. Not long after there was a knock on the door and a young boy probably around fifteen years old entered the room. The mayor explained to him where we wanted to go and then we were all dismissed until the following morning. We left the office in silence each of us feeling uneasy about the mayors words, what could possibly happen at night that caused such fear, how could such a beautiful city hold such dark terrors. I though that once we got here everything would run relatively smoothly I guess I should learn not to presume anything.


	15. Chapter 15

The young guide moved quickly for his size, we collected the horses and lead them down the cobbled street after the boy. We stopped at the infirmary not long after as it was located a few streets down from the city hall. I was seated in a crisp clean room on my own with the doctor, the others were made to wait outside in case they contaminated the place. The doctor was a very stern old man differing vastly from the kind mayor, I was told to lie down on a small surgical bed. He peeled back the bandages and tutted loudly to himself while he worked to patch me up, I would wince every now and then when he prodded or sew too aggressively. After what seemed like a lifetime he informed me that I was all better but should be careful not to do too much strenuous activity.

I had to admit that my wound felt so much better it was amazing what a trained medic could do. Once I was reunited with my friends the guide hurried out of the door and we practically followed at a run. The sun was beginning to set now and the young boy's urgency increased, he lead us down a series of streets turning this way and that before he slowed in front of an unusual looking inn. It was called the swordfish Inn and had the usual themed appearance as the rest of the city what was unusual is it seemed to have all its rooms coming off the main building to the right and left. A long glass fronted corridor ran along the front each of the sides and you could see the numbered rooms behind. At least we would not have to venture outside if we wanted a few drinks.

Once the boy had seen us into the inn he hurried off down the street. There was a small desk tucked into the small entrance hall, we told the woman who we were and explained about the mayor paying for our room. She bustled about looking for the correct keys and handed a set to each of us, she then lead us through a door to the right which lead out into one of the glass fronted corridors.

"your room is just down here, if you need anything let me know and once you have unpacked and freshened up you may want to come to the bar for some food and drink, we do the best fired cod in Mirage" the woman said smiling, she cast a weary glace at the enclosing darkness and hurried back to her desk.

I copied her and glanced out the window and gasped, a strange mist had begun to unfurl creeping along the ground swirling and curling around the streetlamps there was something eerie about the way it stirred almost like there was intention behind its movements. The others responded to my gasp and followed my gaze; we stood in silence as though captivated by the churning mass beyond the window.

"Well I think we should keep all windows shut, everyone in agreement" Jet laughed nervously.

"Definitely" I replied.

"We should go... unpack" Gyn said eager to get away from the window.

We followed Gyn down the corridor to room 23, she unlocked the door and pushed it open it creaked slightly and she ignited a flame in the palm of her hand before lighting the candles around the room. The room consisted of a central living area with a small kitchen at the back, and two bedrooms coming off each side of the lounge. We decided that me and Gyn would have one of the rooms and Blake and Jet in the other. The living area was decorated simply with light blue walls, cream carpet and green furniture. Me and Gyn made our way into our room to unpack, the room was narrow with two single beds lining two of the walls each with a small bedside table, there was also a set of drawers situated under the window. Gyn immediately went over to close the curtains. I noticed that there was another small door coming off the room I opened it revealing a small bathroom; at least we wouldn't have to share that with the men.

"Hey I am going to have a quick shower my skin is crusted in muck." I said.

"No worries I will unpack while I wait for my turn" she replied smiling and selecting the bed to the right of the room.

I took my time showering letting the warm water wash away all the dirt, blood and grime which had encrusted my body, the water soothed my aches and pains and I felt rejuvenated. Eventually I decided I best let Gyn clean up so wrapped a fluffy white towel around my body and left the bathroom. Gyn hurried in after me obviously in as much need of a shower as I was. I dressed in some clean clothes and began to unpack Gyn had already claimed the top two drawers of the dresser so I unloaded my stuff in the bottom two and then lay down on the second bed, it was nice to relax. An hour later we were all clean and rejuvenated and gathered in the lounge area.

"Let's go to the bar, I'm starving and could use a stiff drink" Blake said stretching and rising from the sofa.

"Sounds like a plan" Jet said following suit, Gyn and I exchanged a look and followed the men from the room ensuring to lock up.

I tried to avoid looking at the window where the mists swirled beyond but my gaze kept slipping back to them. The bar area was cosy and welcoming the tables and chairs were whittled from bits of driftwood and the bar was topped with crushed shells coated in resin. We ordered some of the infamous fried cod and ordered our drinks before claiming a seat. Our meal came quickly and was divine it was great to have a proper meal in my stomach. I took a sip of my liquor and just about spat it out; it was very strong a few of these potent drinks would have me dancing in the creepy mists.

A few drinks later and I could feel my body relax and all those things which you know are not funny have you in raptures of laughter. Jet got up to go and pick a new song on the duke box, we quickly refilled his glass as we had been doing for the past hour, the idiot hadn't even noticed. We chortled into our drink as he staggered away across the room. I topped up my own glass the alcohol numbed the slight sting in my side. Jet staggered back into view and gulped his drink in one.

"see that b..barmaaid she thinks I'm hot, look see she does" he slurred blatantly pointing at a middle aged woman behind the bar.

"No Jet she is staring because you are shouting and pointing at her" Blake laughed

"Your just ..hic.. jealous coz it's me she likes, I am going to talk to her" he rambled before ambling over to the bar tripping over his own feet on the way.

We watched in amusement as he blabbed to the poor barmaid and burst into raucous laughter when she slapped him square in the face. He wobbled back holding his cheek and slumped down in the chair next to me.

"sheee don't know what shes missing.." he mumbled "I looove this song come on Keera!" he suddenly shouted causing us to jump, he grabbed my arm and pulled me across the room to a small wooden dance floor, where he began to flail on the spot swinging my arms from side to side. I laughed and humoured him by twirling him around. The motion left him dizzy and he tripped once again which sent him crumpling to a heap on the floor. I burst out laughing.

"heeey what you doing up there?" he garbled

"What are you doing down there" I replied, heaving him to his feet.

Once the song ended he began to run back to the table, only his body seemed to be moving faster than his legs and he began to lean over more precariously with each step in some kind of strange running stumble. Just as he neared the table his feet gave in sending him hurtling to the ground in a nose dive, he skid a meter along the floor, crashed into the table leg and remained motionless. I collapsed to the floor with mirth. Gyn and Blake jumped to their feet in a hurry looking around to see what on earth just happened, they must have been occupied. When Gyn saw the sprawled mass whom was Jet under their table she too could not move for laughing. Blake sighed in exasperation at Jets drunken state.

"I guess we should get him to bed, we have a bust day tomorrow" he said heaving Jets form over his shoulder. Jet wretched and puked all over the floor narrowly missing Blake's back. We muttered an apology to the barmaid as we left.

"Hey where wee going can I not have one more tipple before I go to bed" he mumbled from Blake's back.

"No I think you have had enough to drink" Gyn laughed.

"Just one tipple before I go to bed" he repeated before passing out.


	16. Chapter 16

I woke with a slight thumping in my head; it was nothing one of my remedies could not cure. If I felt last night's merriment then I was more than certain that Jet would not be at his best this morning. It had been fantastic to sleep in a soft warm bed, when you begin to get accustomed to sleeping on rocky solid ground then you know that you have been on the road too long. I stretched and sat up, Gyn was awake, she smiled at me and continued to write in a small leather-bound book.

"What you doing?" I asked her pulling the soft quilt up and around my shoulders.

"I thought I would begin to document our discoveries so far it's not much but gives us a start, I have just noted the warning that Mayor Finnus gave us and observations of the mist." She replied noting something else down.

"Good idea that is after all the purpose of our trip".

I sat for a few minutes wrapped up in the duvet; my stomach grumbling told me it was time to get ready. I had a quick shower to help bring me to life and then dressed in a pair of leaf green shorts and brown shirt and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I made my way into the lounge where the others were gathered, Jet was pale holding his head in his hands while Gyn and Blake stood away from him not wanting to risk being puked upon. I smiled and shook my head he brings it on himself, but I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him so handed him some of my remedy, he smiled meekly and drank the liquid a bit of colour returning to his cheeks.

We had some breakfast at the inn before making our way to the city hall. We left the horsed in the Swordfish stables and decided to walk to the hall we would have to learn to find our way around at some point. The streets were quite as it was still early, there were a few people milling around opening their stores and a couple of men extinguishing the street lamps. We made our way through the streets, Blake in the lead with the map I lost count of the amount of twists and turns until you could eventually see the dome of the city hall over the tops of the other buildings. The map was then abandoned as we walked in the direction of the landmark.

Eventually the large steps of the city hall loomed in front of us. Like the previous evening we made our way up the sand coated stairs and into the grandiose building, this time however the mayor himself was already waiting for us in the entrance hall. He beamed in greeting once again shaking each of our hands before leading the way to his office. He greeted his secretary and then unlocked the door to his office. Four chairs had been lined along the front of his desk ready for our meeting.

"Please take a seat and then we can begin" he said hurrying forward and seating himself on his high back chair. We each claimed a seat and I noticed Gyn pull out the small leather bound book once again, pen poised in her hand.

"How can we help you mayor?" I asked.

"The night time is not safe for my people and I need to get to the bottom of it. it started a couple of weeks ago and was not much to worry about at firsts just a small amount of strange mist. As time went on it got thicker and came every night. That's when the problems started"

"What problems exactly" Gyn asked making some notes.

"At first people began to report loved ones missing saying that they had gone out in the night to run an errand and just never came back. Then there were reports of people seeing things within the mist, creatures made from the swirling fog itself and that's when people started to turn up dead. People would leave their homes in the morning and stumble across a corpse in the street as ridged as a board, eyes staring and mouth agape." He said shuddering at the recollection.

"Do you think that it's the creatures that are killing the civilians?" Jet asked, gulping.

"Most definitely and I know where the mists have come from and they must be stopped they are already beginning the spread and there have been reports in nearing towns of strange mists which appear at night" the mayor explained.

"So where have the mists come from?" I asked.

"There is a place called the Avias well located not far from here, it is a holy place and is said to house evil souls called the mistwraiths. The well can only be opened by someone with a tainted soul and closed by someone with a pure soul. When the well is opened it released these souls and the dense mist in which they live, if the well is not closed this taint will spread throughout Thane."

"How do we close the well?" Blake asked

"To close the well you must first break the enchantment which opened it, the only way this can be done is to find who opened the well, and spill some of their blood into the mists then and only then can one of pure heart go to the well and close it, an enchantment must be read to seal the top of the well it is inscribed on a stone tablet in the temple where the well resides."

We all sat in silence the only noise was the scratching of gins pen on the notebook. This seemed like a task which was way beyond our level. Part of me wanted to send a note back to the Tower explaining the problem so they could send someone more capable but at the same time when we graduate this is the sort of thing we would have to do better begin as soon as possible right. I hoped that Gyn managed to take everything down for us to refer back to we would need it.

"Right so the first task would be to find out who opened the Avias Well, any ideas mayor?" I asked.

"Not really Mirage has its fair share of criminals and miscreants all whom could use the mists to get what they want, and there have been rumours of shadow mages, although no one has seen any here in Mirage" the mayor responded.

"Thank you Mayor Finnus, we will begin deliberating and planning right away, we will do our best to solve your problem" Blake said.

The mayor nodded in thanks, shook our hands again and saw us out of his office. We stood in the small hall staring at each other in shock; we were all new at this and had no idea how to proceed. Should we tell the tower after all? No we had to try ourselves first if we could pull it off we would be able to graduate immediately when we returned to the tower.


	17. Chapter 16b

We made our way back to the local beach in relative silence I guessed that each of us was thinking over the conversation we had just had with the mayor. The streets were busier now and people bustled around from store to store carrying out their daily shopping. We ambled out of the main city streets and down towards the coast, the hope was that the fresh sea air would help us plan. The cityscape petered out into a lush sandy beach which stretched for miles, the sand was white and the grains were fine and soft. I removed my shoes as we stepped onto the beach wiggling my bare toes in the smooth sand; it was cool to the touch. We made our way down the beach, but had to make a slight detour when Jet spotted an ice-cream van and insisted that he have one. He made his way back to us with a monstrosity of an ice cream and how he was going to eat it, I had no idea. The treat was piled high, 5 scoops of varying colours all balanced on a single sugar cone. He began to precariously lick at it and with each lick it seemed to lean further until eventually it gave out and his coloured balls of ice cream splattered to the ground, Jet was not impressed. Finding a secluded spot on the sand we all sat in what can loosely be described as a circle, Jet was still sulking over the loss of his ice cream. Gyn began to gather a pile of sand patting it into a basic square shape a building it up, I smiled drawing power I aimed it at the small grains of sand and began pushing, pulling and moulding them into an image in my mind, eventually a miniature fairy castle sat in the sand before me. Gyn raised her eyebrows looking at her crudely made sandcastle, her gem glowed as she drew power, a blast of fire shot out of her hand heating the castle she had made, and when she stopped her sand castle was now a glass castle.

"Your both show offs" Blake laughed looking at our artistic creations.

"I preferred Jets his ice cream castle was much more colourful" I laughed, Blake and Gyn joined in.

"That was not funny" he huffed like a child, swiping at my sandcastle and pulverising it back to a sandy heap. I scowled at him drawing power, I pulled the grains of sand from beneath him and he yelped as he fell into a hole I then allowed the sand to fall back into the hole burying him so only his head poked out the ground. He growled drawing power he conjured up a whirlwind which picked up sand particles and whipped them around in a small twister. We covered our faces and hands from the stinging sand projectiles; Jet was able to free himself from his sand tomb. Drawing power I concentrated on gathering the sand particles from the whirl wind and diverting them away from us.

"Enough!" Gyn yelled sending a scorching flame towards Jet, he yelped and lost control of the wind. Everyone sat in silence, sand covering us and hair tangled sticking out at all angles. "We need to plan not throw paddies over a dropped ice cream"

Jet looked down "sorry" he mumbled "I'm not used to this stress and she started it"

"I did not you did over a bloody ice cream..."

"ehem" Blake said preventing our argument from escalating any more. I took a few deep calming breaths, Jet was right this mission is stressful, why was I fighting with him over an ice cream?

"Ok where shall we start?" Gyn asked bringing the focus back to the conversation.

"I think it will be best to gather some information first, we need to scout out possible suspects, the mayor mentioned criminals and miscreants who could use the mists to their advantage perhaps we should see if we can get any leads in the poor areas of town." Blake suggested.

"Good plan, but I also think it is important to gather some more information about this ancient well so we have some idea of what we are dealing with" I said.

"Yeh good ideas, then I propose we split up for the rest of the day so we can cover more ground" Gyn suggested.

"Ok I will take the scouting and surveillance and Gyn could come with me" Blake said shooting a small smile at Gyn, I raised my eyebrows.

"Great I guess that means that I am taking Jet to the library" I said sighing this ought to be fun. Gyn and Blake had to hide their mirth.

Deciding it was probably best to get started as soon as possible we split up and went our separate ways. Jet followed me down the busy streets as we tried to find the city archives the city was so vast that it made finding one building quite a task and as I was expecting Jet was useless. Admitting defeat I decided to stop and ask a local who kindly pointed us in the correct direction it turns out that the city archives are in the city hall, typical. We eventually made our way to the city hall just as my companion started complaining about his feet. The receptionist called for a young boy to take us down to the archives, if I hadn't known better I would have assumed we had been taken to an entirely different building. We were lead down a steep spiral stone staircase so narrow my shoulders almost brushed the walls either side of me. At the bottom of the stairs was a wrought iron gate which the boy pushed open, we stepped through into a vast room. The walls were solid stone and there were no windows instead the room was illuminated by hundreds of candles in different sizes and settings. The room was filled with rows and rows of shelves with thick dusty tomes lining them. This was going to take some doing.

Jet sighed beside me he knew as well as I did that we would have to search quite a few books to find any information, if we find any information. Before he left the boy told us that the librarian could offer us some help, he pointed to an old frail lady who looked as though she had been here as long as some of the books. We gave our thanks and made our way over to the lady asking her where we might find some books about the Avias Well, she told us that we would need the lore section which was located in the back right corner of the library. Following her directions Jet and I made our way to the back of the library, it was eerily quite and our footsteps echoed of the vast walls. Reaching the correct section we were faced with more monstrous tomes Jet curled his face up in distaste, we began to scan the titles though some were not even in our language and many needed to be dusted before we could even see what was on the cover. We found a large wooden table which was bathed in candle light, dumped a large quantity of book on the table and sat down.

"Right we are looking for anything to do with the Avias Well, strange mists and mistwraiths" I told him selecting a large blue leather bound book.

We began to search through the books and a couple of hours later we had still not found anything that was remotely useful, though Jet stopped me every few minutes to show me something which was utterly pointless.

"What about this?" he asked shoving another book under my nose.

"No Jet that is about hair growth potions in what way is that relevant to our task?" I snapped getting slightly irritable my eyes were beginning to sting due to straining over books for hours.

"Im bored what if there is nothing in these stupid books" he complained turning another page in his book.

The pile of books we had searched through began to grow and I began to think that Jet was right and that we were not going to find any useful information, some of the books were interesting and I made a mental note to come back when I had some free time.

"Hey I have found something!" Jet Suddenly exclaimed.

"Jet if this is about bigfoot or some other ridiculous thing like the previous stuff you have shown me then don't bother" I said slightly exasperated closing my eyes to keep myself calm.

"No really, look" he said thrusting the book under my nose.

I began to read the page and my heart rate increased, he had indeed found something and something which was very exciting yet terrifying at the same time. This information would certainly be a start and may be a clue to the reason the well was opened.

"You are brilliant!" I exclaimed grabbing Jets face and planting a kiss on his lips.

"Th..Thanks" he stuttered glowing red.

"Come on we need to get this book back to the room to show the others" I said grabbing Jet and making a speedy exit from the library.

It was growing dark when we left the city hall, the fading light made me anxious and I wanted to get back before the mists descended there was already a thin swirling layer creeping across the cobbled ground. We hurried through the darkening streets and both let out a sigh of relief when we spotted the Swordfish inn not far away. Blake and Gyn were waiting for us in the Bar they had already bought a two glasses of liquor for us arriving which sat on the table before the two empty seats. We joined them I downed the drink needing it to calm myself.

"How did it go?" Gyn asked. I scanned the room; there were quite a few people around enjoying evening drinks.

"We should discuss this in a more private setting, let's all go back to the room." I said. The others nodded quickly finishing their drinks; we made our way to back to our room. I unlocked the door and Gyn lit a flame in the palm of her hand. We entered the flame illuminating the room I froze just over the threshold and I heard the others stop abruptly beside me.


	18. Chapter 17

I woke with a slight thumping in my head; it was nothing one of my remedies could not cure. If I felt last night's merriment then I was more than certain that Jet would not be at his best this morning. It had been fantastic to sleep in a soft warm bed, when you begin to get accustomed to sleeping on rocky solid ground then you know that you have been on the road too long. I stretched and sat up, Gyn was awake, she smiled at me and continued to write in a small leather-bound book.

"What you doing?" I asked her pulling the soft quilt up and around my shoulders.

"I thought I would begin to document our discoveries so far it's not much but gives us a start, I have just noted the warning that Mayor Finnus gave us and observations of the mist." She replied noting something else down.

"Good idea that is after all the purpose of our trip".

I sat for a few minutes wrapped up in the duvet; my stomach grumbling told me it was time to get ready. I had a quick shower to help bring me to life and then dressed in a pair of leaf green shorts and brown shirt and pulled my hair up into a ponytail. I made my way into the lounge where the others were gathered, Jet was pale holding his head in his hands while Gyn and Blake stood away from him not wanting to risk being puked upon. I smiled and shook my head he brings it on himself, but I couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for him so handed him some of my remedy, he smiled meekly and drank the liquid a bit of colour returning to his cheeks.

We had some breakfast at the inn before making our way to the city hall. We left the horsed in the Swordfish stables and decided to walk to the hall we would have to learn to find our way around at some point. The streets were quite as it was still early, there were a few people milling around opening their stores and a couple of men extinguishing the street lamps. We made our way through the streets, Blake in the lead with the map I lost count of the amount of twists and turns until you could eventually see the dome of the city hall over the tops of the other buildings. The map was then abandoned as we walked in the direction of the landmark.

Eventually the large steps of the city hall loomed in front of us. Like the previous evening we made our way up the sand coated stairs and into the grandiose building, this time however the mayor himself was already waiting for us in the entrance hall. He beamed in greeting once again shaking each of our hands before leading the way to his office. He greeted his secretary and then unlocked the door to his office. Four chairs had been lined along the front of his desk ready for our meeting.

"Please take a seat and then we can begin" he said hurrying forward and seating himself on his high back chair. We each claimed a seat and I noticed Gyn pull out the small leather bound book once again, pen poised in her hand.

"How can we help you mayor?" I asked.

"The night time is not safe for my people and I need to get to the bottom of it. it started a couple of weeks ago and was not much to worry about at firsts just a small amount of strange mist. As time went on it got thicker and came every night. That's when the problems started"

"What problems exactly" Gyn asked making some notes.

"At first people began to report loved ones missing saying that they had gone out in the night to run an errand and just never came back. Then there were reports of people seeing things within the mist, creatures made from the swirling fog itself and that's when people started to turn up dead. People would leave their homes in the morning and stumble across a corpse in the street as ridged as a board, eyes staring and mouth agape." He said shuddering at the recollection.

"Do you think that it's the creatures that are killing the civilians?" Jet asked, gulping.

"Most definitely and I know where the mists have come from and they must be stopped they are already beginning the spread and there have been reports in nearing towns of strange mists which appear at night" the mayor explained.

"So where have the mists come from?" I asked.

"There is a place called the Avias well located not far from here, it is a holy place and is said to house evil souls called the mistwraiths. The well can only be opened by someone with a tainted soul and closed by someone with a pure soul. When the well is opened it released these souls and the dense mist in which they live, if the well is not closed this taint will spread throughout Thane."

"How do we close the well?" Blake asked

"To close the well you must first break the enchantment which opened it, the only way this can be done is to find who opened the well, and spill some of their blood into the mists then and only then can one of pure heart go to the well and close it, an enchantment must be read to seal the top of the well it is inscribed on a stone tablet in the temple where the well resides."

We all sat in silence the only noise was the scratching of gins pen on the notebook. This seemed like a task which was way beyond our level. Part of me wanted to send a note back to the Tower explaining the problem so they could send someone more capable but at the same time when we graduate this is the sort of thing we would have to do better begin as soon as possible right. I hoped that Gyn managed to take everything down for us to refer back to we would need it.

"Right so the first task would be to find out who opened the Avias Well, any ideas mayor?" I asked.

"Not really Mirage has its fair share of criminals and miscreants all whom could use the mists to get what they want, and there have been rumours of shadow mages, although no one has seen any here in Mirage" the mayor responded.

"Thank you Mayor Finnus, we will begin deliberating and planning right away, we will do our best to solve your problem" Blake said.

The mayor nodded in thanks, shook our hands again and saw us out of his office. We stood in the small hall staring at each other in shock; we were all new at this and had no idea how to proceed. Should we tell the tower after all? No we had to try ourselves first if we could pull it off we would be able to graduate immediately when we returned to the tower.


	19. Chapter 18

"You!" I snarled taking a step forward.

There lounging on our couch his head propped up on his hand with a cocky smile on his lips, was Vex. He wore simple black linen trousers and a purple shirt, his amulet lying on his firm chest complimenting his outfit. He showed no sign of being nervous after all he was in the room of three apprentice Guards and an assassin yet it was us who stood frozen to the spot while he merely lounged there sending a wink my way.

"You know him?" Blake asked.

"Yeh I know him, this is the shadow mage who took me hostage" I explained scowling at Vex I had warned him how it would be if he crossed my path again.

"What!" Jet yelled jumping forward. Vex raised his hand; his amulet flashing and Jet flew back smashing against the wall behind him, Jet was suspended against the wall as though he was hung on a small hook.

"Now, now I do not appreciate un-provoked attacks" Vex said waving a finger at Jet as though he were a naughty child. Jet wriggled around on the wall but to no avail yet Vex seemed to be expending no effort to keep him there.

"Un-provoked, you have broken into our room, what exactly is it that you want?" Gyn snapped igniting a flame in her palm and glancing my way, I frowned.

Vex got up from the couch, Blake tensed grabbing some blades hidden in his pockets. In the blink of an eye Vex had crossed the room and stood before Gyn, how had he moved so fast? I guess I don't know everything about shadow mage magic. Vex placed his hand over the flame in Gyn's and pushed downwards till his hand met hers a strange purple glow emanating from between their palms, when he removed his hand the flame had gone, Gyn stared in shock.

"How...?" she began. Vex cut her off.

"one question at a time my dear" he said with a slight chuckle "I am here because I know what you are doing here in mirage, and I want to help" we all stared at him dumbfounded, Blake scowled still tense and hands clasped around a blade of some form. "I also wanted to see how you were my dear" he continued turning to me, placing a warm hand on my cheek. I pushed him away glaring at him venomously.

"I warned you last time..." I said.

"Yes I remember, however I never do what I am told" he grabbed me around the waist and whizzed across to the other side of the room at break neck speed, the air was knocked out of me. I sucked in deep breaths to stop feeling faint and looked back across the room at my three companions all poised for a fight. Well Gyn and Blake were as Jet was still glued to the wall; Blake was now standing in a fighting stance a glass dagger in each hand and Gyn now had flames burning in both palms. Vex was stood behind me one arm closed around my waist and the other was stuck out over his palm facing my friends, in what could be a defensive on offensive gesture. He nuzzled my neck placing a kiss there.

"Now that I have your attention we can talk. Sit" he instructed. My friends reluctantly took a seat; Vex released Jet unceremoniously so he was dumped on the floor. He got up rubbing his back making his way to a chair. Vex pulled me around to the front of the couch and pulled me down onto it.

"We want nothing to do with your kind" Jet spat, the other two nodded.

"Jet we should at least hear him out any extra information he can give us will be beneficial" I reasoned.

"Well you would say that" I heard Gyn utter, my eyes snapped to her and I scowled.

"What is that supposed to mean" I growled.

"You know fine well what I mean" she retorted. Vex sat with a pleasant smile on his face as though he were enjoying the anarchy he had caused.

"Gyn what are going on about?" Blake asked his face screwed in confusion. Gyn sighed and looked down.

"I caught them 'together' the night after we found her injured, she has been canoodling with him" she said. Blake and Jet gasped and it was my turn to lower my eyes to avoid looking at them.

"Oh please you say it as though she has done something terrible, does that mean you and Blake are naughty too, I saw you at the Avias Well, smoochie smoochie." Vex laughed unsympathetically causing both Blake and Gyn to glow red. Blake recovered first.

"What were you doing at the Avias Well?" he asked

"Like I told you before I am here to help, I know all about your mission and feel I have information that will be of some use to you" Vex explained.

"And why should we trust you? what's in it for you?" Gyn asked.

"Let's just say that its personal and it benefits me helping you more than the other party involved"

"Who is the other party involved?" Jet asked

"Hmmm trust works both ways my friend and I am only willing to talk if you are willing to listen, I will help you but I need to know that I can trust you as I have a lot to lose if this goes pear shaped. I will leave you to discuss this with each other, send earth girl here to the Avias well with your answer." He said placing a peck on my cheek before he sped out the door before anyone could say anything else.

My head whirled, why in the world Vex would want to work with us. I looked at my friends, Jet was slumped in his chair looking forlorn and Blake and Gyn were having a hushed discussion. He had said that his reason for wanting to help us was personal what did he mean by that, had he and his brother had a falling out but surely a little sibling tiff would not cause him to turn on his brother; this had to be something big. I stood and began pacing; the other three looked up at me I could practically see the cogs turning behind their eyes.

"What do we do?" Gyn asked.

"What do you mean, we can't trust him" Jet snapped.

"I wouldn't rule him out just yet it obviously took a lot of courage to come here and confront us tonight and in my book that means he could be sincere." Blake replied.

"Sincere ha! He is a cocky, arrogant, self-righteous git" Jet sneered. I stopped pacing and raised my eyebrows along with Blake and Gyn.

"Keera what do you think?" Gyn asked. I shrugged my shoulders turned my back on them and entered the bedroom shutting the door behind. I slumped on my bed; it felt good to stretching out allowing my body to relax I had been so uptight lately. I couldn't deal with this right now that's why I had to get away I needed some quiet, time to think, clear my head. If I decided to trust Vex and allow him to help us it would be like admitting my feelings for him once and for all and I didn't know if I could do that with him being a shadow mage, yet his help and information could be invaluable to us. If I disagree to his help it would prove to him and my friends that I am strong enough to do what is right by dismissing a shadow mage, the enemy of my people yet we would not have his information or help. I closed my eyes inhaling deeply to steady my heart. I heard the door open but I remained still with my eyes shut. I felt weight on the end of my bed my feet sank with the mattress. A hand rested on my leg and I could tell from the heat that it was Gyn.

"I know your awake" she said but I remained silent, eyes shut. "I wanted to apologise for what I said earlier about you and Vex I shouldn't have brought it up like that and I had intended to talk to you privately about it. I understand that that may make this situation harder for you but I wanted you to know that if you trust him and think he can help us then I trust your judgment and therefore will trust him."

I opened my eyes and stared at her "I don't know what to do Gyn"

"Forget about politics for once, do you trust him, I trust Blake with my life"

"Blake isn't a shadow mage, what if he turns on us once he gets what he wants?"

"He may be an arrogant shadow mage but I can sense that there is something between you both and I don't think he is the kind of person to show affection if it is not real, he won't betray you and therefore he won't betray us. Think about it" she said getting up and leaving the room.

"It's all I have been thinking about" I muttered to the empty room.


	20. Chapter 19

I stayed in my room sprawled out on the bed for a little while longer trying to calm my shot nerves. I sighed in exasperation as I heard raised voices emitting from the next room this situation was causing so much tension and it needed to be cleared up. I lay listening to them till I couldn't stand it any longer, I pulled myself up and off the bed, stretched and made my way back to the lounge.

"Enough!" I yelled barging into the room.

Jet, Blake and Gyn were all standing in the centre of the room, fists clenched and faces red, they looked up at me as I entered jumping at my loud entrance. They turned away from each other taking a seat on one of the plush chairs, breathing deeply as though they had been running for an extended period of time. Every one sat in silence as I made my way to our small kitchen, I gathered four tumblers and filled them with liquor and handed a glass to each of my friends.

"I think we need these" I said smiling meekly at those gathered around me. I took a long swig from my glass savouring the alcohol as it burned its way down my throat. "This..." I said waving my arms around to indicate our group's situation "is ridiculous we need to clear our heads of unimportant rubbish"

"What like you consorting with a Shadow Mage and these two having 'private moments' is that considered unimportant" Jet snarled staring at the floor.

"Yes exactly that"

"But what if I want to discuss it" he retorted.

"Tough because I have nothing to say on the matter as for Gyn and Blake that is up to them and you can take it up with them later. Now what did you find out at the Well during your surveillance?" I asked Gyn and Blake. Ignoring Jets muttered comments about them not seeing anything as they were too busy with each other.

"Well we spotted a camp with a sleeping mat though it only appeared to be a single person residing there" Blake began.

"I think we can safely presume that it was Mr obnoxious who was camping there" Gyn continued "so in reality we discovered nothing useful"

"Not necessarily because if it was a shadow mage guarding the well we can safely presume that it was a shadow mage who opened the well, like his brother perhaps." I suggested immediately thinking of Taleik.

"Do you think it could be Vex?" Blake asked.

"No" Gyn and I said together. Blake and Jet stared at us.

"Vex has a brother and I am guessing that it was him who opened the well and that is why Vex referred to the situation being personal, Vex must be guarding it for him he is the younger sibling afterall." Gyn explained to the two men Blake nodded in understanding but Jet just scowled this whole situation and brought out a side of him which I did not appreciate.

"There has to be more to it after all why would Vex turn on his brother? Anyway moving on, Jet and I found something interesting in the library which may explain why the well was opened in the first place."

"What was it?" Gyn asked me sitting up straight in her seat. Jet retrieved the book, passing it half-heartedly to me. I opened the large dusty book flicking through the fine pages for the correct passage I wanted. Once o found it I jabbed my finger at the page and passed it to Gyn and Blake.

"The well was built and cursed to protect the mother of all power gems aka the Vecny stone. What is so special about the Vecny stone you may ask, well the book states that the one who possess the stone must travel to the four elemental tribes temples and bless the stone on their alters. Once this has been done the holder will be granted immortality." I explained, smiling slightly at my friend's dumbfounded faces.

"So that's why the Shadow mages want the stone, they intend to bless it so they can posses immortal life." Blake said stunned, I nodded.

"Then why does Vex want to help us if he wants immortal life?" Gyn asked.

"There is only one person who can answer that" Blake replied "and he is waiting for Keera at the Avias Well."

We all fell silent staring at each other, the same question buzzing around our heads; do we trust the shadow mage? The conflicting answers bounced back and forth in my head like an intense game of ping pong, trust him, don't trust him, trust, him, don't trust him... I closed my eyes tightly holding my head in my hands.

"I'm not trusting that conniving mage" Jet spat.

"I say we trust him, let's face it we need his help and information and if things go wrong it's four against one" Blake said. I sat up and looked at him; he appeared to be sincere giving me a small smile.

"If Blake says trust him then I agree" Gyn said putting her trust in Blake's belief, she stared at me pointedly referring back to our prior conversation. Her words floated in my head '_I wanted you to know that if you trust him and think he can help us then I trust your judgment and therefore will trust him... Forget about politics for once, do you trust him, I trust Blake with my life... I don't think he is the kind of person to show affection if it is not real, he won't betray you and therefore he won't betray us_' I looked at her and nodded slightly, she smiled.

"I will go and tell Vex about our decision then" I said getting to my feet. I collected my boots and slung my cloak over my shoulders. Jet watched me scornfully. "How about you get in a round of drinks for when we get back"

"Shouldn't someone go with you?" Gyn asked. I shook my head.

"No that will indicate that we don't trust him I have to go on my own. I hopefully won't be long the sky is nearly dark. I don't wish to be caught in the mist."

I left our rooms shuddering slightly as I saw the mist growing, creeping and swirling around on the ground I froze momentarily when I noticed a distorted figure within the building mist and gloom. Horrified I hurried round to the stables to collect Minx there was no way I was trekking to the Well on foot with the mists looming. The stables were small but nice, I found Minx in her stall quickly and she whinnied in greeting I had been busy recently and hadn't been to see her much leaving the stable boy to care for her. She was admittedly well cared for her chestnut coat gleamed and her mane was sleek and glossy, she stamped her feet impatiently eager to get going and stretch her legs. I quickly put on her saddle and bridle leading her from the stall, pulling power I pulled the earth up to give be extra height to climb onto her back. Giving her a firm kick and verbal command she sped from the paddock and off down the cobbled streets her hooves clanking noisily in the silent gloom.

I raced through the town and out into the countryside riding into the thick of the mist, it was denser here twirling and whirling around us as though it were attempting to tie us up in its vaporous grasp. The mist clung to my skin and I could see the water droplets covering Minx's coat as we sped forward faster and faster as I began to notice more mist-built figures on our path; mistwraiths. The Avias Temple loomed before me, a daunting shadowed mass concealed by the dense mists, despite the adrenaline pulsing through my veins the mists kept my body cool so much so in fact that I felt myself shaking. I dismounted Minx, leaving her outside the temple; she seemed unperturbed by the mist and chewed on the grass surrounding the large stone steps.

I climbed the stairs they were crude large stone blocks placed together the mist slid down them like a small waterfall, for some strange reason it did not occupy the air in the temple, it crept along the ground like a stalking creature, I could not see my feet or the lower half of my legs. Large stone pillars were lined in a long walkway at the top of the stairs, lichen and other plant life had wound their way up the stone cylinders and vines connected the tops. My footsteps echoed of the vast walls, an eerie sound in the emptiness of the structure. The temple had a strange aura I could feel the magical pulsations from the foundations of the building itself how Vex could sleep here I did not know. The well itself was plain, raised on a stone pedestal the mists were spewing out of it spilling all over the floor then making their way towards the temple doors. I watched them creep and took a sharp intake of breath when I saw a collection of mist figures gathering around the entrance of the temple, a chill ran down my spine. I yelped as something grabbed my arm spinning around to see what it was. I let out a breath of relief when I saw that it was Vex who grasped my arm; he smiled at me, pulling my body to his and holding he there.

"I guess your friends saw sense" he said, I felt a pang of guilt knowing that it was me who had difficulty making the decision. I smiled and nodded at him. "you're on your own" he said sounding surprised.

I smiled again "I came here to tell you that we trust you, if we trust you why would I need a friend to back me up, that's not trust." I explained. He smiled leaning down to peck me on the lips I raised my hand to block my lips, he frowned slightly confusion flashing in his eyes. "We can't, I told you" I said looking at the floor.

"I will win you over" he said a small confident smile on his lips "in fact I have already won you over I just need to get you to admit it."

I raised an eyebrow "why are you not like this around anyone else, my friends would have found it easier to trust you without the self riotous attitude" I asked him.

"What and ruin my evil shadow mage reputation" he laughed "people need to earn my respect then I will respect them."

"But..."

"Come on we best get back to your friends, we have matters to discuss" he said taking my hand and leading me back down the room. I grew increasingly uneasy as we neared the waiting mistwraiths, Vex squeezed my hand in reassurance. As we exited the temple the Wraiths parted down the middle letting us through they made no attempt to assault us I looked at Vex in confusion, these creatures were killing people but they left us alone, I voiced my concern.

"Why are they leaving us alone and letting us pass, there not attacking" I said confused Vex smiled pleasantly at me once more.

"Of course not! They won't harm me because I was the one who released them"


	21. Chapter 20

I stared at him lost for words, all this time I had automatically presumed it would be Taleik who opened the well. I scowled at him yanking my hand free from his forgetting about the mistwraiths that surrounded us. He looked down at me a slight smile on his lips, his dark eyes like black holes sucking me in I averted my gaze and proceeded to scowl at the floor. He grabbed my chin quite forcefully and moved my head so I had to look at him and his other hand claimed my hand back.

"Let me explain and all will become clear" he said to me his face inches from mine.

"Did you know what would happen if you opened the well? Were you aware that those creatures..." I spat indicating to the mistwraiths "would kill people and that the mists would consume the city and spread like a plague throughout my kingdom?" I snarled aggressively.

"Yes, but..."

"I gave you my trust, my teams trust, when all along you were the cause of this" I said struggling to free myself but to no avail, I drew power and projected it to a nearby willow, the tree whipped its long trailing branches, flailing them, one cracked against Vex's cheek leaving a bloody gash. He shoved me to the ground breaking my concentration and stilling the tree, he traced the gash with his finger blood covering the digit. He rolled his eyes at me and lent down to pull me up, I tired to bat him away but he ignored me and pulled me to my feet, keeping a firm grip on my arm he marched me over to Minx.

"We don't have time for you to play Miss Morally Right and I would appreciate it if you listened to what I had to say before you send assassin trees after me. Up" he said giving me a boost up onto Minx's back. I said nothing and allowed myself to be placed on my mare's back, Vex hopped up behind me taking control of the reins, his arms either side of me boxing me in. This guy had dominance issues he always had to take the lead, be in charge and I couldn't see it going down very well with my friends and I struggled with that trait of his immensely as I loved to feel in control. Vex however had a subtle manipulative way of getting people to do what he wanted and when it didn't work he resorted to his rather strong magic.

He spurred Minx forward and she didn't even seem to care about the stranger on her back giving her orders, she lurched forwards in a gallop speeding towards the town. The mist seemed to part to allow us through warped by our speedy passing, curling madly in the air around us. Minx moved fluidly and with purpose and before I knew it we were rounding the back of the Swordfish inn where the stables reside. Vex dismounted and held a hand out to help me down, I sneered rejecting his hand and climbing down myself, he huffed in amusement. I ensured that Minx was safely back in her stable before making my way back to vex, we walked round to the front of the building the mists cool dew clinging to my skin it was oddly refreshing, I inhaled the crisp night air.

Vex entered the Inn first holding the door open for me bowing mockingly as I entered and as he had expected I scowled at him causing him to chuckle, he was enjoying this way too much. We found Gyn and Blake sitting in a secluded booth at the back of the bar they stiffened as we approached most likely tension at having Vex so near, they had a bottle of liquor on the table and 5 glasses. Vex grabbed the bottle and poured himself a drink and then filled a second for was no sign of Jet.

"Where is moody pants?" I asked my companions. Gyn screwed her face up, what was that expression?

"He is sulking in his room, perhaps you should go talk to him" Gyn replied. I nodded, Vex had made himself comfortable and blew me a kiss as I left I rolled my eyes and he laughed.

"So..." I heard his say as I left the room.

I made my way to our room, the door remained unlocked and I slipped inside. The men's bedroom door was shut; I knocked softly and heard a muffled 'go away' from the other side. Ignoring the request I opened the door and walked right in, Jet was sat on the edge of his bed head in his hands. He looked up at me as I entered, anguish written all over his face. I smiled gently and sat next to him on the bed.

"Gyn said that I should come and talk to you, is everything ok?" I asked placing a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head looking pitiful.

"No everything's not ok" he said flatly turning to face me "I was ok you know, just waiting patiently until you were ready, then that shadow mage came along and messed everything up with his suave words and cool swagger..."

"Jet what are you talking about?" I demanded in confusion.

"I'm talking about the fact I'm in love with you Keera and have been since the first day I saw you when you walked in late to Vectors seminar, your hair a mess because you had slept in and panicked to get there in time." He said staring at me intently.

I sat there dumbfounded lost for words, how come I had no idea his sudden revelation had me stunned. Cogs whirled in my head could I be with Jet? I looked at the man in front of me his shaggy light blond hair and silver eyes then Vex's image floated into my head his black hair falling into onyx eyes which seemed to have a never ending depth. One man who was almost innocent he could be kind and considerate and valued his friends although had the tendency to huff like a child and sometimes had the mentality of one, he had a pure serene essence. The other man was dark he had an alluring wickedness to him he was dominant and sure of himself, sexy. But at the same time he was the enemy wreaking havoc in my kingdom he was deceitful, right? Good and bad, black and white, what did I do? Jet was my friend it had been that way for years and I had never had any other feelings for him, Vex on the other hand I was drawn to like a magnet and no matter how I tried to repel him I was always pulled back to him. I shook my head.

"No please don't" he said beside me reacting to my shaking head. I looked up at him, sorrow etched onto his fine features, he knew my decision. In one last desperate attempt to sway me he gently cupped my face bringing it to his until our lips met, he kissed me gently, tenderly unlike Vex and his fierceness. He pulled back still holding my face and stared into my eyes with his silver ones, I averted my gaze looking down. He sighed and let me go his body drooping.

"I never stood a chance against him did I?" he said dejectedly "your drawn to him, you deny it yet deep down you crave his attention and love it when you get it, when he touches you your skin sizzles and he occupies most of your thoughts whether they be good or bad, believe me I know the feeling"

I shook my head in denial I didn't feel that way about Vex I refuse to especially after what I had learned tonight every time I find my opinion of him swaying he goes and shoots it back down again in style of course. Jet just gave me a sad smile as though he understood my torment.

"Jet I'm sorry" I said.

"Don't be its not your fault, you feel how you feel"

"You are a great guy and will find a girl who is perfect for you and can give you the love you deserve but that girl is not me, I'm sorry jet but this way I am setting you free and you can move on with your life, get yourself back out there" I said smiling at the last part, he smiled back.

"Thanks for being honest with me, I needed it."

"Hey that's what friends are for right" I said standing "come on we have a mission to discuss" I held my hand out, Jet grasped it and I pulled him up.

We made our way back to the bar to join the others. They were sat where we had left them, Vex had his feet up on one of the empty chairs and sipped nonchalantly on his liquor, he smiled and dropped his feet when he saw me approach tapping the chair next to him winking. I sat down and Jet took the seat on the other side of me, I picked up my glass and took a sip.

"Okies now we are all gathered I shall get straight to it as I am pressed for time, so it would be great if you did not interrupt me till I'm done." He said sitting forward and grinning at each of us pointedly. "I am in thane because I was sent on a mission by my farther the King of Karox..." I spat out my drink, he was the bloody prince of Karox! I looked at my friends their chins had hit the floor. Vex paused for impact smirking at our expressions. "It was my Shadow trial to enter Thane and fine, bless and bring him the Vency stone. So yes I opened the Avias Well" again he paused gauging our responses, I clenched my teeth and I could see Gyns expression harden, Blake and Jet remained impassive, impressive for Jet. "My farther is a good king and since he has been on the throne of Karox he has left Thane alone, he wanted to stone so he could rule eternally. Now I have no urge to become king the problem however occurred when my brother informed me that he had no intention of letting me give the stone to farther. He said that it was his turn to rule and he was going to claim the stone for himself and rule Karox after disposing of our farther. Once my brother has blessed the stone there is..."

"No way we can kill him" Blake said.

"Well not quite" Vex said frowning "another item was forged when the stone was enchanted it's a dagger and it is the only thing that can kill the holder of the stone. The dagger also needs to be blessed at the temples and once blessed it can be used to take down the holder of the stone if you stab them through the heart. My brother now seeks to claim the dagger too, only by having both items can he be truly unbeatable as he is unlikely to stab himself. Now the good news is that he has no idea where the dagger is hidden but neither do I if we can't get the stone off him we had better get the dagger before he does. I suggest that while you are waiting for me to return, you do some serious research, I have other matters I need to take care of and I will scour the Avias temple for any clues to the daggers whereabouts. Please excuse me" he said abruptly, he lent and kissed me on the cheek before departing.

We sat in stunned silence.

"He is a prince of Karox!" Jet squeaked.

"You know I can't help but think that we did the right thing trusting him, he obviously thinks a lot of his farther and he was correct when he said that the king is not a threat to Thane but I will bet my life's savings that Taleik will be if he claims the throne" Blake said logically and I couldn't help but whole heartedly agree with him.

"We still need to be careful" Gyn said "it seems to me that his loyalty is to his farther before anyone else".

We finished our drinks in silence Vex's speech swirling in each of our minds, one thing was crystal clear. Taleik had to be stopped one way or another.


	22. Chapter 21

I had a restless night's sleep tossing and turning every hour strange snippets of dreams filling the moments I was able to sleep. I lay staring at the ceiling in the dark listening to Gyn's steady breathing, at one point I stood at the small window with the curtains drawn back just watching the strange swirling mists beyond. I would occasionally see the lone ghostly shape of a mistwriath amble by and when one turned to face my way its featureless face staring at the window where I stood, I shivered and hastily closed the curtains and made my way back to bed.

The next thing I knew I was blinded by sunlight, I groaned and stretched opening one eye I saw that the cause of the brightness was Gyn standing by the window as I had last night, the curtains open wide. She turned to me and smiled waving a slip of paper in the air.

"I woke to find this sitting on top of our dresser" she said sitting on the edge of my bed, she looked at me oddly "I am in awe as to how it got there" she handed me the small slip.

The paper was thin you could nearly see through it, a small note was scrawled upon it the writing was flouncy and oblique. I read the note:

_ Taleik intends to bless the stone at the Aqua Temple tonight I don't see how we can stop him at this point so I suggest you work on closing the well tonight. I will be round later today and until then you need someone of pure heart and to find out more about the dagger._

_VEX._

I looked back up at Gyn and she raised her eyebrows, insinuating something.

"What do you think I let him in" I said a small smile playing on my lips.

"Maybe, how else?"

"It's a mystery; I had such a rubbish night's sleep in surprised I didn't notice." I said dragging myself up from my bed.

"He is like a mistwraith, you never see or hear him coming, I thought assassins were good" Gyn said shaking her head.

We both got ourselves washed and dresses before heading into the lounge area, Blake sat with a book in his hands and looking at the text I presumed it was the book me and Jet had taken from the archives. He didn't look up when we entered but said good morning, Gyn went and sat on the chair beside him while I decided that I needed a strong cup of leba-leaf tea to revitalise me. I crushed the small brown leaves before putting them into a mug of hot water, I inhaled the bitter sent shuddering slightly just as well it didn't taste like it smelled. I had consumed half my tea when Jet sauntered in, his hair bedraggled and the buttons on his shirt were not aligned causing one end to hang lower than the other. Gyn and I told the men about the not Vex has somehow left in our room and the conferring began.

"I think that we should send letters to the mayor of each of the tribes asking for any information about enchanted daggers and we should use the pigeon post to send the letters they are less likely to look suspicious, we don't want Taleik intercepting them." I said. Gyn immediately stood grabbing some paper and began drafting the letters.

"I think I have just found some help with the whole finding someone pure of heart." Blake said, my head snapped to look at him he was reading from a page in the book. "It says here that there is a woman in town who believes herself to be a medium and she can sense pure and impure spirits, it's worth a shot right?" he said looking up at us all his face screwed in scepticism.

"That book has some random stuff in it" Gyn muttered and small chuckle escaping her lips.

"Sounds like a load of horse poop to me" Jet blurted.

It didn't take Gyn long to finish the letters and she had Blake proof read them. We decided that we would go the pigeon post first and post the letters and from there seek out this old coot who thinks she can contact the spirits which reside inside peoples bodies. After an hour of hunting we finally located the post building, it followed a similar design to other buildings except the face had many holes cut into it, we watched as a small grey pigeon flew up to one of the holes and made its way inside. Jet opened the door and a small bell jangled announcing our entry, a small man approached the desk, tufts of hair protruding from his nostrils and ears but the top of his head was bald.

"Long or short distance?" he wheezed.

"Long" Gyn replied, we need these three letters sent to the mayor of the Airwalker, Inferno and Earthern tribes lands please the old man looked at her for a short while before nodding, he scuffled off into the back to select appropriate mail carriers. The small room smelt musty and bird droppings littered the floor in places this place defiantly could do with a spring clean. The man came back with three sturdy looking birds clinging to his arms, Narla would find them tasty I couldn't help but think. Gyn tied a letter to each of the bird's feet after she had rolled them up into a small coil so it didn't inhibit the bird's flight. Once the letters had been strapped on the birds immediately took off flying out through one of the holes in the wall. We paid the man and left the shop.

It didn't take us as long to find the medium she lived in a small run down shack on the outskirts of the city. She opened the door Just as Blake stretched out a hand to knock, no one else wanted to knock this place was creepy. The lady was so old she was wrinkled up like a prune, hunched over a walking stick, she gave us a toothy grin revealing a that large quantity of her teeth were missing, i grimaced.

"I saw you coming dears" she said her voice cracking with age.

"erm ...great" Blake said unsurely.

"Come, I know what you seek, come in" she croaked ushering us inside. The room was tiny and it appeared to be the only room she had as a small bed was placed along one wall, there was a rickety table and chair set in the centre of the room which was surrounded by candles which had obviously been lit many times as the floor around them was covered in globs or melted wax. A small stove and bench was located in the back corner of the room and a small couch near the door. The lady indicated that we where to sit on the couch, we did as we were asked, as we sat a cloud of dust was expelled into the air from the fabric causing me to choke. The lady hobbled around lighting her candles before turning back to us.

"Let me seek your souls" she said, we all exchanged alarmed glances. The old lady closed her eyes placing a hand on each of our foreheads in turn, her hand was clammy and rough, my skin crawled under her touch. She let out a small squeak as she touched Jet causing us all to jump.

"you show promise my dear, your friends souls are dirty, come" she said grabbing Jet with unnatural strength and pulling him into the ring of candles, pushing him down on a chair. I looked at Gyn and Blake in shock, Jet had a pure soul! I couldn't help but feel a bit of hostility to the old woman for insulting me stating that I have a dirty soul I bet hers is no better I thought bitterly. I watched as she began to chant while dancing around Jet, he was horrified eyes as wide as saucers. Her chant became more intense and she began to screech obscenely causing Jet to grab the wooden chair his knuckles turning white. She grabbed his face in her gnarled hands and wailed at him before licking him on the forehead at this point Jet struggled to stand yelling at the old woman. She pushed him back down and smeared some blue coloured paste on his forehead where she had licked him and then turned to us. We cowered praying it wasn't out turn now.

"Your friend has now cleansed he has a pure soul" she said inclining her head slightly. she turned away and shuffled off to the small kitchen.

"erm .. Thank you" I said hesitantly.

We rushed to leave the small abode fleeing down the street; we did not ease our pace until we reached the inn and were unlocking to door to our room. We fell onto the chairs breathing heavily and poor Jet had not uttered a word since leaving his face as white as snow. A soft chuckle from behind us resulted in us all jumping and turning to face the sound. Vex lounged against one of the benches a packet of our biscuits in his hand, he pushed of the bench and sauntered round to us offering us our own biscuits as he moved. He perched on the arm of my chair slinging an arm over my shoulder and pulling me to him. he laughed looking at us all.

"You all look like you have seen a ghost" he mused.

"I wish we had" Jet squeaked.

"Good news though" I said

"Oh? And what's that?"

"We have found our pure soul" I replied pointing to Jet. Vex burst into a raucous of laughter causing Jets face to turn from white to red.

"Very well we had better get moving then I have no idea how long this will take or how long my brother will be away and if he decides to pay me a visit" Vex uttered I groaned as he pulled me up from the chair I just wanted a five minute rest. We clambered to our feet collected and fastened on our weapons in case they were needed and trudged out the door following Vex.


	23. Chapter 22

He led us down the glass fronted corridor and out of an old wooden door at the far end, it leads to the stables, Vex pushed the door open and entered. The scent of straw filled my nostrils when I entered the room after Vex he made his way over to Minx's stall after telling everyone to get their horsed ready. I scowled at him when he began gathering Minx's saddle and reins she was my horse what did he think he was doing he merely rolled his eyes and dumped the saddle in my arms before leaning back nonchalantly on the stable wall. I got Minx ready for our trip to the temple ensuring her girth was fastened comfortably but tightly at the same time. When we were all ready we mounted our horses, Vex was sharing mine as usual but I insisted on controlling her this time. I walked her to the exit of the stables Vex climbed down and opened the door the mists spilling in and surrounding him in a hazy veil. I noticed that no one else had moved they sat on their horses eyeing the mists with apprehension. Vex grinned turning to them.

"Erm are we supposed to go out there because I spy mist" Jet whimpered.

"Oh don't get your knickers in a twist pure boy! I control the mist remember" Vex mocked. As if to prove his point the mists began to swirl around him in what appeared to be a mini twister it was a sight to behold. He smirked at us all arrogantly before heading back towards me and swinging himself swiftly onto Minx's back behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist resting his chin on my shoulder.

"Giddy-up" he said in my ear causing a chill to run down my spine. I spurred Minx into action and she bolted from the stables the sound of hooves thundering behind me indicated that my friends were close behind. We weaved through the streets the mist disturbed around us seemed to dance angrily as we passed, the cityscape fading into countryside. The quiet of the night pressed upon us and before long I spotted the looming shape of the Avias Temple before me, like I did in my previous visit here I stopped Minx and we dismounted leaving her to chew on the grass. Once we had all gathered at the bottom of the stairs we made our way up the stairs and into the gloomy building ahead. It didn't seem as long this time to walk up to the Dias, Vex turned to face us the well spilling its mist framed behind him.

Vex pulled out a small intricate knife from his pocket and held it up before bringing it down towards the palm of his other hand, his blood had to be spilt in the mist as part of the ritual to close the Well. Just as he was about to slice the flesh on his palm he froze, brow furrowing. He looked around sensing something just as a tall figure materialised from the gloom, I recognised that thing stature and beak like nose, it was Taleik. A flash of surprise crossed Vex's face before he masked it into indifference he had obviously genuinely though that Taleik was going to the Aqua Temple tonight. Movement around us caused my body to tense and I crouched into a fighting stance sensing the nature around me which I could use to my advantage. I grabbed my longbow from my shoulder and a poison tipped arrow from my quiver I locked the flight of the arrow onto the string and pulled toughening the string ready to fire. More figures emerged from the gloom, we were surrounded, Gyns palms burst into flames beside me and a strong wind rustled through the vines above us. Taleik stepped up beside his brother and turned to him.

"You can't honestly think that I didn't know about your little pact with the elementals" he droned, Vex shrugged his shoulders "you have just made things more difficult for yourself little brother I am going to give you a choice... no it's more of an ultimatum. You either leave your lady friend and her friends and come back to join me and I shall ensure that you have a secure position in my new kingdom or you stay with your lady friend and her crew but I will ensure you are cast our from Karox and your prince-hood be stripped." Taleik said silkily a gloating expression on his sharp features.

Vex looked towards us and held my gaze, conflict behind those eyes of his he looked around at his brothers men which had moved into view circling us. It seemed strange that Taleik was so keen to have his brother by his side after he had betrayed him; he must need him more that he has let on. When Vex averted his eyes to the ground I knew what his decision was, I wilted lowering my bow for a split second before hardening my resolve, raising my bow and aiming it straight at Vex. He appeared shocked for a second at my choice of target smiling at me meekly before turning to his brother and nodding. Taleik smirked in victory.

"let us leave this place we have work to do" he said turning and walking away, Vex followed looking back at us for a split second at first he seemed to focus on someone standing slightly behind me before looking at me one last time. I readied my bow, blood seething however just before I was about to release my poison arrow a silver star shot past me head and struck Vex in the shoulder blade. Vex uttered no noise he only stumbled slightly at the impact he casually reached round ripping the star from his shoulder and dropped it on the floor splattering crimson liquid on the stone. Taleik didn't seem to notice he turned to one of him men nodding at him running a finger across his throat, the man bowed and turned back to us emitting a loud yell, the other men saw this as a signal and lunged into action.

I counted about twelve men, twelve against four odds wasn't bad unless they had shadow mages in their midst. I aimed at the man running towards me releasing my arrow it soared through the air hitting him in the stomach he grunted and it knocked him back, he grabbed the end of the arrow and snapped it off leaving the head buried in his flesh. I hadn't intended to kill him with my shot as the poison would affect him shortly he continued towards me but was blown back by a carefully aimed gust of wind courtesy of Jet. I spun loading my bow and firing it at some more men in my range one arrow pierced a man in the eye and he fell down unmoving. Blake was sparring with a brute sporting a long sword despite his strength Blake was able to dance around him slashing him wherever he could with two daggers.

The wind was knocked out of me as I was tackled to the ground from behind knocking my bow from my hands. It was the first man I had hit I could feel the split of wood from the snapped arrow digging into my stomach. His movements were becoming sluggish so he resorted to wrapping his hands around my throat and squeezing I panicked unable to breathe groping around for something to hit him with. I remembered my daggers tucked into my belt, I reached for one of them my vision beginning to blur. I would have let out a sigh of relief if I was able as my hand closed around the hilt of a dagger I whipped it from the sheath and plunged it into his side. He let out a howl but did not let go I tried shoving it further into his body, he let out a second howl but it wasn't due to my dagger. Gyn hovered above us bloody scythes in her hands she had gashed the man's back, she aimed a kick at the man's side and he rolled off me freeing my neck.

I leapt to my feet thanking Gyn. I watched as a man was whipped up into the air in a twister, he spun helplessly before he was flung unceremoniously into the far wall. I drew power seeking for the woody roots below me pulling them up through the stone I held them waving around me like deadly whips. There was a flash of fire as Gyn ignited my root whips, I smirked at her giving them a practice whip the crack echoed in the room and men rolled and dodged to avoid the fiery leash. Gyn rushed off firing large fire balls at a two men surrounding Blake one hit and man and he burst into flames, he hit the deck rolling around in vain. I stood stationary protected by my circle flaming roots no one could approach at the risk of being lashed. I reached out snapping at men who would try and ambush my friends. The last man fell at Blake's hands he slashed his throat with a hook ended knife nearly decapitating the man. I looked around at the carnage, we were lucky this time there was no shadow mage in with these men perhaps they just served to be a distraction while the brothers got away.

"Drag the bodies onto the soil and I can get rid of them" I said drawing power and burying each body in the ground with my magic, the soil swallowed them up and eventually there was no trace of them.

"We need to close the Well, but what about the blood?" Jet asked.

"Blake took care of it for us when he struck Vex with the throwing knife" Gyn explained

"Ah I wondered why he did that" jet replied.

"We need to find the stone tablet" I said heading off around the Well scouting all surfaces. We searched for a few minutes until Gyn found the enchantments written on the base of the dais it was such an obvious place. Jet stood before it, looking at us uncertainly but we all nodded at him in encouragement. He knelt down in front of the Well and the tablet.

"What do I do?" he asked uncertainly.

"You need to read it" Blake said, we all looked at the strange writing it most certainly was not in our language the words were alien. Jet wrinkled his nose.

"Here it goes." He took a deep breath and began to read "Cabis tù imona yame itsua. Cabis tu imona yâme itsua. Habbitan, habittan tù ermine est ibitsa mundané. Kabi ringu tibsa tu ving Avias Pentisto!" He finished looking up at us with wide eyes. He had read it so fluently as though he had been practicing for days.

Our attention however was then diverted to the mists they had begun to move in reverse as though the Well was some form of vacuum and was sucking the mist back into its depths. It was subtle at first but then it became more turbulent the mists whizzed past our feet and disappeared down the well. Next came the howling, faint at first but it grew louder and louder until its source was made apparent mistwraiths were being sucked towards the well, writhing and groping in vain to prevent themselves from being trapped back in their watery prison. I jumped back automatically as some whizzed past me and were sucked into the depths of the well. Eventually the mists slowed, thinning as the last of it was withdrawn, I breathed a sigh of relief, at least one problem was now solved. The well began to whistle and then produced a bright light as it sealed itself.

"Well that's that" Jet said rubbing his hands together.

"I need a strong drink" I muttered turning and heading to the exit of the temple. I inhaled the fresh night's air.

The sky was clear and you could see the thousands of stars that adorned it shining down on us, gems in the darkness. It was strange I had grown accustomed to the mists whilst being in this city I mounted Minx; this time on my own. I looked around at my friends we looked like such a dishevelled bunch, blood soaked clothing, Guard cloaks tangled, dirt smeared faces and hair stuck out at odd angles. We trooped back towards the Swordfish inn at a walk this time the horses hooves gently clopping on the ground. I slowed further when we reached the city, people were opening their doors and stepping out into the street looking up at the sky. More and more people began to appear looking at the sky and then at us, one man bowed to us and began clapping gaining the attention of others who copied. Soon the streets were filled with applause as we passed, grins mechanically spread on our faces and Jet began waving at people, who did he think he was – royalty? We made our way back to the inn feeling somewhat fulfilled, people cheering in delight at the mists end.


	24. Chapter 23

The receptionist stopped us as we entered the inn and informed us that a letter has arrived while we had been out saving the day. She passed it to me and I thanked her, my friends looked at me apprehension glinting in their eyes, this envelope could hold the location of the dagger. We hastily made our way to our room and stumbled through the door in our hurry. I was swarmed once the door was closed.

"Open it".

"What does it say"

"Let me see"

"Just calm and give me some space" I snapped pushing through all the bodies and plonking myself down on the plush sofa, Gyn sat down beside me while Blake and Jet hovered before of us. I frowned at the wax seal and looked up at Gyn there was no emblem imprinted on the wax.

"Maybe it's so people don't know where it has come from and may protect it from being intercepted by certain shadow mages." She said shrugging. Her comment reminded me of Vex's departure and part of me hoped he had a damn good reason for leaving the way he did. I tore the blank seal open and unfolded the thick parchment the writing was small and slanted giving the impression that a spider had ran across the page. The note was brief. I took a breath and read the letter out loud.

_Dear Guards,_

I am writing in response to your inquiry. I have something for you which you may find useful. Please come to my home town so I can assist.

Regards

Mayor Smeltos.

"Oh wow!" Gyn exclaimed. I looked up at her confusion on my features. "I'm going home!" she added on the end. I perked up Mayor Smeltos was in the inferno tribes lands, this mission was taking me all over Thane. I had heard that the inferno tribe's lands were made up of molten rock which has been spewed from the ash mounts dotted around their lands; I guess I was going to see for myself.

The letter had lifted Gyn's spirits and she practically bounced around the room and her excitement seemed to be rubbing off on everyone else. I guess we needed to relax and let our hair down after all the drama we had been through since we had left the tower. Blake left the room momentarily to buy a bottle or two of liquor from the bar, we felt we needed a celebratory drink after the ordeal we had been through so far and part of me knew that it was not the end. So we would celebrate while we could. Blake came back five minutes later a big grin on his face.

"On the house!" he said gleefully holding up the two bottles of liquor "who wants a drink" he laughed. Jet whooped and grabbed four tumblers from the cupboard and placed them on the table top, Blake poured the amber liquid into each glass. Gyn and I were handed a glass each and I took a sip allowing the strong liquid to slide down my throat, I sighed enjoying the tingling sensation it left behind. I leant back nestling into the soft cushions the alcohol helped relax me washing away all the ordeals from the past few weeks, in reality they hadn't been away from the tower for that long but it felt to me like we had been away for years I was mentally and physically drained.

Over the next couple of hours the level of booze in the bottles depleted as we all indulged in glass after glass and our lucidity slipped away until we were giggling wrecks lounged on the chairs. Gyn was sprawled over Blake's knees, Jet was heaped on the floor his upper body supported was supported by the base of my arm chair and I sat with my legs hanging over one of the arms of the chair and my back against the other.

"weell I am t-the bloooody pur-hic-e boyy!" Jet chortled his arm flailing in the air before dropping heavily onto his lap. We all burst into another raucous bout of laughter.

"come on I w-wish to dansss" I slurred struggling to my feet and kicking Jet in the head in the process, I leant down and grabbed his hand yanking him unceremoniously to his feet his head lolled.

"b but there iss no moosic" Jet garbled swaying unsteadily.

"weee don't neeed itt" I said swatting the air with my hand as though shooing something away. "weee can make oor own moosic"

"gooood plaan" He replied and began belting out some noise which the small coherent part of my brain registered as being dreadful. We pranced around the room limbs floundering. Gyn giggled from the couch, planted a kiss on Blake's lips and then dragged him to his feet to join in the gallivanting. We all joined hands and bounced around in a circle giggling like school children, Jet lost his footing and collapsed on the floor but the rest of us kept going dragging him around the floor. We stopped when there was a sharp knock on the door, me and Gyn letting go if Jets hands there was a bump as his body hit the floor. I stumbled to the door and opened it using the door frame as a prop to hold my body still. It was the receptionist who had handed me the letter earlier in the evening, I grinned and she frowned at my intoxicated state.

"I have been given another message for you" she said holding out a small folded piece of paper. It took alot of concentration to take the letter from her hand. I slurred my thanks and bade her goodnight before shutting the door while she was still standing there peering round the door to the commotion within.

"cooom on Keera" Gyn hollered. I beamed forgetting about the letter I let it slip from my grasp as i ran across the room to join in the idiocy.


	25. Chapter 24

I was abruptly woken when I rolled over in my sleep and fell off the end of the bed the jarring impact from my body hitting the floor shocked me into consciousness. I groaned my head spun, it felt as though someone was using my head as a drum. I lay there on the floor for a little while trying to muster up the energy to climb to my feet, how I had found my way to my bed last night I had no idea and there was no sign of Gyn in her bed. Taking a few deep breaths I hauled myself to my feet and staggered into the bathroom, I was a wreck it was going to take a few different herbs and ointments to sort me out, how much had I drank last night? I began by splashing my face with cold water the chill rejuvenated me slightly allowing me to think more clearly, I opened my herbal case and pulled out a shrivelled brown leaf and popped it into my mouth and chewed, it had a stale taste, deep and earthy but it was the best way to get rid of my groggy hangover. Secondly I rubbed my special ointment under my eyes to clear the deep purple bags. I jumped slightly when Gyn's face appeared in the mirror behind me, she also looked rough and her hair was dishevelled. I grinned at her in the mirror.

"Must have been crazy night last night" I laughed, my voice coarse.

"Don't ask me I don't remember much" she croaked rubbing her head. I smiled turning to her and handing her one of the small brown leaves. She wrinkled up her nose but put it in her mouth all the same, colour slowly came back to her face.

"Let's go get some breakfast" she said turning and heading towards the lounge, I followed not before tucking two more leaves in my pocket. Blake was busy frying some eggs in the pan I had to admire him cooking for us all with a hangover. I gave a leaf to both Blake and Jet – who was laying on the sofa a bucket on the floor by his head, nice. I slumped down into one of the arm chairs and closed my eyes, the spinning had calmed now but my stomach complained I hoped some food would settle it. Blake served fried eggs and toast to us all, the smell was enticing and it didn't last long we had all it wolfed down, not a scrap left on any of the plates.

"Hey what's this?" Gyn exclaimed picking up a folded piece of paper from the floor "Keera it has your name on it" she informed me handing me the scrap of paper.

I took it from her and examined it; the paper had been folded into a seven centimetre square with a small blob of wax sealing it and my name had been printed in a hurry. How had the letter gotten into the room we were so drunk last night that we were all as perplexed as each other as to how it found its way onto our lounge floor. I broke the small was seal and began to unfold the letter the writing was like that on the front it was scrawled as though the writer was in a rush. I read over the letter to myself and felt the colour drain from my face.

"Keera what is it?" Blake asked resting a hand on my shoulder. Gyn and Jet stared, brows furrowed in anxiety.

"It's from Vex" I mumbled, my friends faces changed with a mixture of surprise, interest and foreboding.

"What does it say?" Jet asked. I took a deep breath and read out loud the second letter in two days.

"Keera and crew,

Sorry for the state of this letter but I must write it quickly as I cannot be found writing it. I am sure by now that you have discovered the location of the dagger but unfortunately so has my brother and he is wasting no time to get to its location before you, luckily if you leave soon you may get a head start as we have just arrived at the water alter to bless the stone. Not only that my darling little sister has joined our ranks and let me tell you that this is not a good thing. I ask one thing from you my dear the first being that you stage and execute my capture; make it seem as though you have taken me against my will, this will make things simpler for us when it comes to my siblings. We intend to leave Mirage in the morning I suggest that you are ahead and in place to carry out my abduction. We will talk more when I am with you again, until then...

Vex"

I finished reading and looked up at my friends they stood motionless staring at the letter in my hands. I would bet my life on the fact that we were all thinking the same thing... how on earth do we fake abduct a powerful shadow mage from an entourage of other powerful shadow mages. Another thing that bothered me about the letter was the mention of his sister, I had no idea he had other siblings and why did he seem so wary of her. My body jerked into action and I jumped to my feet startling my friends.

"we need to pack" I said briskly "then we can gather provisions and plan Vex's capture"

Everyone spurred into action I didn't need to tell them twice we all knew that time was of the essence especially since Taleik had already blessed the stone in one alter. I gathered my stuff as fast as possible packing it into my saddle bag and collecting my weapons placing them on my belt and hanging my bow and quiver over my shoulder. Gyn was nearly finished I helped gather her last few items and we made our way into lounge, both Blake and Jet were waiting on the sofa bags by their feet.

"Do you not think we should plan our next move while we are still here?" Gyn suggested.

"We could but we don't know what the shadow mages are going to do or how many there are of them" I said "it makes it difficult to plan"

"We could make a basic course of action" Gyn suggested.

"pft who needs a plan we just go in there kick their ass and run off with the Suave son of a ..." Jet began.

"No Jet that is called suicide" Gyn reprimanded.

"Our best plan will be to work out how many mages they have and their positions in their camp that way we can work out which of us needs to do what to distract and neutralise them and get Vex out." Blake said

"So we should make haste, get a day or so ride ahead of the so we can stake them out?" I asked.

"I think so it seems like the most tactical thing to do" he replied

"Well if Mr. Tactics thinks that what we should do what's stopping us" Jet mocked and Gyn shot him a look.

We had one last check around the room to make sure we had not forgot anything before leaving the room. Gyn handed the keys back to the receptionist and we gave her our thanks and bade farewell. We made our way back down the glass hallway and out through the door that lead to the stables I found Minx in a far stall munching on some hay, she perked up when I approached and made her way to the door of the stall clearly eager to be on her way. I have her nose a quick rub before gathering her tack and preparing her for the road, I drew power and lifted a mound of earth so I could climb onto Minxes high back. Looking over my shoulder i asked if everyone was ready and when I was given the thumbs up I spurred minx out of the stables and onto the open road.


	26. Chapter 25

I was abruptly woken when I rolled over in my sleep and fell off the end of the bed the jarring impact from my body hitting the floor shocked me into consciousness. I groaned my head spun, it felt as though someone was using my head as a drum. I lay there on the floor for a little while trying to muster up the energy to climb to my feet, how I had found my way to my bed last night I had no idea and there was no sign of Gyn in her bed. Taking a few deep breaths I hauled myself to my feet and staggered into the bathroom, I was a wreck it was going to take a few different herbs and ointments to sort me out, how much had I drank last night? I began by splashing my face with cold water the chill rejuvenated me slightly allowing me to think more clearly, I opened my herbal case and pulled out a shrivelled brown leaf and popped it into my mouth and chewed, it had a stale taste, deep and earthy but it was the best way to get rid of my groggy hangover. Secondly I rubbed my special ointment under my eyes to clear the deep purple bags. I jumped slightly when Gyn's face appeared in the mirror behind me, she also looked rough and her hair was dishevelled. I grinned at her in the mirror.

"Must have been crazy night last night" I laughed, my voice coarse.

"Don't ask me I don't remember much" she croaked rubbing her head. I smiled turning to her and handing her one of the small brown leaves. She wrinkled up her nose but put it in her mouth all the same, colour slowly came back to her face.

"Let's go get some breakfast" she said turning and heading towards the lounge, I followed not before tucking two more leaves in my pocket. Blake was busy frying some eggs in the pan I had to admire him cooking for us all with a hangover. I gave a leaf to both Blake and Jet – who was laying on the sofa a bucket on the floor by his head, nice. I slumped down into one of the arm chairs and closed my eyes, the spinning had calmed now but my stomach complained I hoped some food would settle it. Blake served fried eggs and toast to us all, the smell was enticing and it didn't last long we had all it wolfed down, not a scrap left on any of the plates.

"Hey what's this?" Gyn exclaimed picking up a folded piece of paper from the floor "Keera it has your name on it" she informed me handing me the scrap of paper.

I took it from her and examined it; the paper had been folded into a seven centimetre square with a small blob of wax sealing it and my name had been printed in a hurry. How had the letter gotten into the room we were so drunk last night that we were all as perplexed as each other as to how it found its way onto our lounge floor. I broke the small was seal and began to unfold the letter the writing was like that on the front it was scrawled as though the writer was in a rush. I read over the letter to myself and felt the colour drain from my face.

"Keera what is it?" Blake asked resting a hand on my shoulder. Gyn and Jet stared, brows furrowed in anxiety.

"It's from Vex" I mumbled, my friends faces changed with a mixture of surprise, interest and foreboding.

"What does it say?" Jet asked. I took a deep breath and read out loud the second letter in two days.

"Keera and crew,

Sorry for the state of this letter but I must write it quickly as I cannot be found writing it. I am sure by now that you have discovered the location of the dagger but unfortunately so has my brother and he is wasting no time to get to its location before you, luckily if you leave soon you may get a head start as we have just arrived at the water alter to bless the stone. Not only that my darling little sister has joined our ranks and let me tell you that this is not a good thing. I ask one thing from you my dear the first being that you stage and execute my capture; make it seem as though you have taken me against my will, this will make things simpler for us when it comes to my siblings. We intend to leave Mirage in the morning I suggest that you are ahead and in place to carry out my abduction. We will talk more when I am with you again, until then...

Vex"

I finished reading and looked up at my friends they stood motionless staring at the letter in my hands. I would bet my life on the fact that we were all thinking the same thing... how on earth do we fake abduct a powerful shadow mage from an entourage of other powerful shadow mages. Another thing that bothered me about the letter was the mention of his sister, I had no idea he had other siblings and why did he seem so wary of her. My body jerked into action and I jumped to my feet startling my friends.

"we need to pack" I said briskly "then we can gather provisions and plan Vex's capture"

Everyone spurred into action I didn't need to tell them twice we all knew that time was of the essence especially since Taleik had already blessed the stone in one alter. I gathered my stuff as fast as possible packing it into my saddle bag and collecting my weapons placing them on my belt and hanging my bow and quiver over my shoulder. Gyn was nearly finished I helped gather her last few items and we made our way into lounge, both Blake and Jet were waiting on the sofa bags by their feet.

"Do you not think we should plan our next move while we are still here?" Gyn suggested.

"We could but we don't know what the shadow mages are going to do or how many there are of them" I said "it makes it difficult to plan"

"We could make a basic course of action" Gyn suggested.

"pft who needs a plan we just go in there kick their ass and run off with the Suave son of a ..." Jet began.

"No Jet that is called suicide" Gyn reprimanded.

"Our best plan will be to work out how many mages they have and their positions in their camp that way we can work out which of us needs to do what to distract and neutralise them and get Vex out." Blake said

"So we should make haste, get a day or so ride ahead of the so we can stake them out?" I asked.

"I think so it seems like the most tactical thing to do" he replied

"Well if Mr. Tactics thinks that what we should do what's stopping us" Jet mocked and Gyn shot him a look.

We had one last check around the room to make sure we had not forgot anything before leaving the room. Gyn handed the keys back to the receptionist and we gave her our thanks and bade farewell. We made our way back down the glass hallway and out through the door that lead to the stables I found Minx in a far stall munching on some hay, she perked up when I approached and made her way to the door of the stall clearly eager to be on her way. I have her nose a quick rub before gathering her tack and preparing her for the road, I drew power and lifted a mound of earth so I could climb onto Minxes high back. Looking over my shoulder i asked if everyone was ready and when I was given the thumbs up I spurred minx out of the stables and onto the open road.


	27. Chapter 26

We rode the horses hard late into the afternoon; their coats gleamed with sweat in the setting sun. My back ached I could tell that I had not been on a long ride for a while. We had left mirage after making a few stops in the city to gather some food and items then proceeded to head diagonally across Thane in the general direction of the Inferno lands. Our destination was Pyros the tribes capital and home to mayor Smeltos, Gyn has said that it was a wondrous and industrious city full of hustle and bustle it sounded the complete opposite to my home town Timbre life there was slow and tranquil. I wondered if each capital was completely different Mirage had been glamorous with its stain glass windows and mosaic covered buildings, what would the capital of the Airwalker tribe be like?

The land beneath our feet began to change and it wasn't long before we bunkered down for the night but not before sending Narla on a scout around the area for signs of the shadow mages. I was woken the next morning to a strange guttural purring in my ear I jumped up; a black cat looked up at me its deep purple eyes staring through me it wove its way around me legs never taking its eyes off me before making its way over to Gyn. I stared transfixed as it slowly woke each member or our small group up before skulking away into the under growth. There was defiantly something not right with that animal.

"erm Keera I think you should send out Narla for another scout" Gyn said nervously obviously the purple eyed feline had unnerved her too.

I nodded and sent Narla of to scour the area once more and sure enough she sped back to us crying shrilly. While we packed up the camp ready to make a brisk departure Blake left to spy on the shadow mages to gather important information. As soon as Blake returned from his skulking we immediately mounted the horses and set off at a gallop we needed to get ahead of them and plan our move using the Intel Blake had collected. Like the previous day we rode late into the evening and made sure we found a secluded spot to set up camp which was out the way of the mages, I used my powers to create a mud wall around our camp; not too high to be noticed but high enough to deter and sneaking cats. Once settled around the camp fire which Gyn had graciously lit did Blake tell us what he had found out.

"there were 11 of them that I could see all male apart from a small willow framed woman sat in the centre of camp she was deep in conversation with Taleik and Vex it's my guess that she is his sister. There didn't appear to be any form of watch over the camp the shadows were all going about their own business such lack of concern screams serious over confidence if you ask me." He explained.

"Ok so we need a basic diversion" Gyn said.

"Some kind of cover" Blake added, they looked at each other thoughtfully. I remembered that time on the beach and an idea formed.

"Leave the cover to me and Jet, I can break up the soil and sand particles and jet whips up a whirl wind blowing the particles around" i suggested.

"Good plan" Jet said smirking.

"Ok but what is stopping us getting blinded too" Gyn asked. I paused for a moment and looked around camp my eyes fell on the mosquito nets.

"we could cut up and use one of the spare nets to cover our faces, sight won't be ideal but at least we won't be buffeted with dirt particles and if we have a general idea where Vex is it should help us navigate to him" I explained "once the distraction is in place I will hunt for Vex I can used my magic to repel the earth particles from me meaning it will have a clear bubble to search for him, the rest of you should concentrate on incapacitating the other mages but only do what is necessary once I have Vex we are getting out of there as fast as possible and if anything goes wrong we will retreat and have to rethink" I said.

"rethinking won't be ideal as the shadow mages will be put on alert so we best hope we get it right first time" Gyn added.

We planned to attack early the following morning in the hope that we will catch them while they are still sleeping and that they will be groggy and disorientated at being woken. Most of the evening was spent going over our plan and sharpening our weapons ready for a fight. Jet and I practiced combining our magic creating small dirt storms on the mud around our camp until we felt we had perfected the art, tomorrow we would have to do it on a much larger scale and keep the incantation going while we fought our way through the shadow made camp. It was incredibly difficult to perform more than one piece of magic at a given time but this would have to be done tomorrow as we would still need our combative magic.

We set a watch rota for the night the last person on duty which was Gyn would have to wake the rest of us up just as the sky begins to brighten and the first bird sings. I took first watch it was my preference I watched as everyone else climbed into their sleeping bags and slowly began to nod off. My mind whirred as I went over our plan again and again; I jumped slightly as a large black crow landed on the ground beside me and watched as it slowly morphed into an incredibly handsome shadow mage. Vex grinned at me and he lounged against my mud wall his black hair falling into his eyes, he sank to the floor to sit beside me running a finger gently up and down my arm. I went to speak but he shushed me placing a finger over my lips.

"hush woman just listen I don't have much time" he chortled I scowled at him but remained silent "I just wanted to make sure you got my letter" I nodded to him in response "good and I take it you have a plan?" once again I nodded he had not removed his finger "good now a few words of caution do not underestimate my twin sister she may be small but she packs a punch and has as much empathy as a rock she will not hesitate to gut any of you. Another thing, I will have to put up some resistance for show if you get my drift" I nodded for a third time "don't worry my dear I will go easy on you after all I want to be captured, especially by one such as yourself" he laughed, removing his finger from my lips and placing his own in its place. "See you tomorrow" he added before morphing back into a bird and taking flight into the night's sky.


End file.
